Reid rages over red card in Rovers’ draw

Raging Albion Rovers boss Brian Reid let rip at referee George Calder after his side were reduced to 10 men and Elgin City awarded two penalties in Saturday’s 1-1 League Two draw at Borough Briggs.

And Reid fumed that one of these days he wants to see decisions go the way of the Coatbridge men.

Gavin Price’s City took the lead in 25 minutes when Kane Hester was judged to have been fouled inside the area and converted the penalty himself.

Rovers levelled on the verge of halftime when Sean Fagan headed in Charlie Reilly’s corner.

However, a trialist defender was shown a second booking two minutes into the second half, and in 67 minutes Hester won a second penalty following a challenge by Fagan, but this time Cammy Binnie saved to keep the scores level.

Reid was happy with how his side fought back for a point, but said: “I thought every big decision went against us - the two penalties were never penalties in their life, but they were given against us, and it was fortunate for us that Cammy saved one of them.

“The sending off as well... maybe the first one I can see is a yellow card but at the second one there is hardly even any contact, but he gets a second yellow card at the start of the second half.

“He’s quick to pull out the second yellow and send him off, but these are massive decisions that could have cost us, big time.

“Fortunately for us, we managed to battle away and get a point, but it certainly doesn’t make it easy for us when you get a big decision like that, that can ultimately cost you the game.

“But I can’t credit the players enough, especially when we were down to 10 men.

“We were strong, we were physical, we battled away, shut the back door and actually created a few chances with 10 men, so it was actually a decent point after everything that seemed to go against us on the day.

“Everything seemed to go against us, and yet we still battled away and deserved the point.

“Having to play the whole second half with 10 men is tough enough, especially at Elgin after a long bus journey. I can’t praise the players enough, in terms of the way they battled on.”

Reid says it was fortunate for his side that the decisions didn’t cost Rovers three points, and wants to see a bit more consistency.

He said: “It’s a long way to go to come back with nothing, and with the things that were happening in the game it certainly could have gone against us, but the players were performing at a good level, they were very dogged in the way they defended, and we still created a few chances.

“So, all in all, I’ll take a point, but decisions like that... I’d love one day to see Albion Rovers getting decisions like that, but it doesn’t seem to ever happen. That’s the disappointing thing, that it seems to always go against us.

“I’m not going to cry over it. It’s a decent point at a tough venue, and we just need to dust ourselves down.”

Rovers are not back in action until January 29 due to the Scottish Cup weekend and he added: “We’ve got a free week now, so we’ll hopefully get some players back, get some good training in us, and be ready for the game against Cowdenbeath at home in just under a fortnight.”

Far from happy Reid, right, felt hard done by after Rovers had equalised through Fagan (above, #5)