WHISTLERS ARE BACH TO SQUARE ONE
KEEP it simple early doors, don’t do anything daft.
It’s the kind of message every manager wants to get across to their players before a cup tie with everything riding on it.
Steven Gerrard and Steve Clarke would have been no different ahead of their seasondefining Scottish Cup fifth-round replay at Ibrox.
But the same could just as easily have been said for SFA head of refereeing John Fleming who would have been desperate to avoid any more high-profile errors from one of his men.
Nothing silly, especially early on. But it took just two minutes for Alan Muir to be at the centre of controversy.
When Eamonn Brophy got the better of Joe Worrall inside the box the on-loan Gers defender wrestled the striker to the ground for what appeared to be a stonewall penalty.
Clarke was furious in the away dugout as Muir waved away Killie appeals and when he didn’t even book Brophy for diving it was clear yet another refereeing decision would come under scrutiny.
Players make mistakes when there is the pressure of being replaced and Record Sport’s exclusive that the SFA will consider a proposal to introduce refs from overseas has probably cranked it up a notch.
It is why, with so much scrutiny on officials and the whole disciplinary process, Muir could have done with keeping out of the spotlight.
But any chance of that lasted all of 120 seconds when he could easily have awarded Killie a spotkick and possibly given Worrall his marching orders.
And to rub salt in the wounds when the 49-year-old FIFA whistler did eventually reach for the red card it was for Killie keeper Daniel Bachmann.
Yet again it was a controversial one with the Austrian appearing to protect his space as he waited for a corner. But he was ruled to have elbowed the impressive Glen Kamara in the process.
To be fair to Muir he did consult assistant Drew Kirkland just one of the six games the Colombian has been forced to sit out through suspension.
The fact he will again have to miss Sunday’s trip to Hamilton – the third of his three-game ban in the league – is the frustration that comes with him.