Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Airdrie penalty fury as Jags win battle
Euan Robertson at New Broomfield Ian Murray felt 10-man Airdrie were denied a stonewall penalty at a pivotal point in their 4-2 defeat against Partick Thistle.
The Diamonds boss reckons Euan O’reilly was brought down in the box by Thistle captain Darren Brownlie on 12 minutes but referee Craig Napier booked the Airdrie man for simulation.
Napier’s decision not to award a penalty, when the Diamonds were winning 1-0, led to a confrontation between both sets of players and Murray revealed that his players were incensed.
He said: “All the players are adamant [that it was a penalty]. They were adamant at half-time that it was a penalty kick, I’m not going to harp on about it but it’s hugely frustrating.
“Referees have got to make decisions and linesmen have to make decisions. To me it looked like a yellow card and a free-kick.
“It was the exact same last weekend against Peterhead when O’reilly runs through the middle and is brought down but no free-kick.
“How do they get to these decisions? I don’t know. I don’t think the players made it a very hard game to handle but I don’t think we got many decisions in the game.
“That’s twice now that Euan O’reilly hasn’t got free kicks and it’s not just Euan. Thomas Robert, Craig Thomson, Kyle Connoll and Calum Gallagher get battered about but we don’t get very much.”
The Diamonds made a dream start and raced to a deserved lead on two minutes through Jack Mckay.
But Thistle rallied and levelled through Scott Tiffoney before the break and quick-fire goals from Brian Graham and Conor Murray at the start of the second half put Partick in control.
Tiffoney added a fourth for Thistle before substitute Ally Roy pulled a goal back for the Diamonds, but any chance Airdrie had of a comeback ended when captain Sean Crighton was sent off on 79 minutes.
Crighton saw red for a two-footed challenge on Mouhamed Niang. It’s the second time in a week Airdrie have had a player sent off, following Kyle Turner’s dismissal four minutes into last week’s 1-0 defeat at Peterhead, and Murray will review the decision.
He said: “We’ll have a look at it, like we do every challenge, but I’m not going to say too much about it because in real speed, I don’t know – it’s definitely a blow to us.”
Airdrie, who are now seventh in League One, were set to visit high-flying Cove Rangers as the Advertiser went to press last night and on Thursday the Diamonds travel to Murray’s old side Dumbarton, kick-off 7.45pm.