Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Airdrie could appeal Turner nightmare red
Airdrie boss Ian Murray says he may appeal new boy Kyle Turner’s red card – which came just FOUR minutes into his debut for the Diamonds.
The on-loan Dunfermline midfielder was sent off for violent conduct when a late challenge on Ryan Conroy at the half-way line resulted in referee Steven Kirkland sending him for a very early bath.
Airdrie held out until the 66th minute when a shot by Jordon Brown gave Peterhead a crucial winner, denting Murray’s hopes of earning promotion with the Diamonds.
And Murray hinted that they may appeal the decision, as he feels Kirkland could have been a bit more lenient.
He said: “The red card made a huge difference.
“Firstly, it didn’t really matter who was sent off, you’re down to 10 men after two or three minutes, so your preparation goes out of the window that you’ve worked on for the last two or three weeks.
“When it’s a player you’ve just signed and you’re looking forward to seeing him play – because he has been exceptional in training – it’s a huge disappointment, but that’s what happened and we have to try and deal with it.
“But it was a huge gap between games for these guys.
“I get it from the referee, I understand that he has to make a decision, but I was hoping that because we were only three minutes in to effectively a new round of games after a long lay-off, sometimes we can maybe have a wee think and say players are rusty, over-eager, overzealous, whatever you want to call it – but that’s me defending my player.
“We’ll look at it in detail and see if we think there’s anything we have any chance with.”
Murray admits his side didn’t pose enough of a threat at Balmoor to merit anything out of it.
He added: “In the game we actually didn’t create enough.
“We didn’t let much in – two shots on target, I think they had, and Max Currie dealt with one very comfortably, the other one was a poor defensive mistake that led to it.
“Defensively we were fine, it’s always easier to defend than it is to attack, but we haven’t worked their goalkeeper which is disappointing, regardless of the 10 men.”