Reilly livid as McLean ‘ruins’ clash with Ton
The St Mirren striker was thrilled to learn at the end of last week that girlfriend Chelsea Carruthers is expecting.
But under-fire official McLean put a dampener on the baby news when he denied St Mirren chance of clinching a derby victory.
The 24-year-old striker said: “I found out on Friday I am going to be a dad in May. It is exciting stuff.
“I didn’t let it affect me on Saturday, but it is exciting stuff. I am trying to bank as much sleep as I can!
“I am just glad it is due at the end of the season and hopefully, we have won the league by that point!
“There are a couple of the guys here who are dads and I will try and learn as much from them as I possibly can.”
The news about the impending patter of little feet would have been made even sweeter had St Mirren managed to take three points and stretch further away from their rivals at the top of the Championship.
However, McLean flashed a yellow card at Reilly for diving rather than awarding a penalty for Thomas O’Ware’s challenge seven minutes from time and the striker insists he has the scars to prove that the ref got it badly wrong.
He said: “I have marks on my knee. It’s just annoying when decisions like that don’t go for you.
“I’m not going to bother ranting and raving about the ref, I’ve just got to get on with it and that’s it. But it’s had a massive effect on the game to be fair.
“Perhaps he was influenced because he had given two pens.
“I had Thomas O’Ware backed up – I knocked the ball past him and I was going to get on to it.
“What was the point of me diving? If I dive, I get booked and pick up a needless booking.
“No, he’s got that one wrong. I thought we deserved to take more from the game. But we haven’t been beaten so we have to take the positives from it.
“We set targets at the start of the quarter and we can still achieve them and if we do we fully expect to still be top of the league.
“We have drawn, but there are still positives because we are still top of the league.
“We go into every game knowing we can win the game. With the players we have here, we think we can win. We played Dundee United and beat them 3-0 and I felt we blew them off the park.
“So we can go up there next Saturday with confidence and with them not having a manag- er, they might be unsettled. So we just have to try and be positive.”
McLEAN was the centre of attention for the third game running after being under the spotlight last week for decisions at the Rangers-Motherwell Betfred Cup semi and then the Hamilton-Partick Premiership clash.
Morton are insistent that Michael Doyle’s challenge on Lewis Morgan in 66 minutes was outside the box but McLean gave a penalty, converted by Ian McShane. Then Saints were upset two minutes later when a corner was not awarded to them, Morton broke up the park and Andy Murdoch scored with a 25-yard screamer.
There was no dubiety about Reilly’s strike in 72 minutes as he connected with Cammy Smith’s cross to fire Saints ahead again.
But Morton found a leveller through Gary Harkins’ penalty six minutes later when Gregor Buchanan stupidly fouled Ricky Lamie when he had been warned about man-handling by McLean.
Harkins reckons they were worth it and hopes it can spark a run to the play-offs for the second season running.
The former Saint said: “Having been down twice it was great to come back and get a draw.
“The gaffer set us up to stop them playing, They’re a good side. Lewis Morgan is a great wee talent, McGinn’s a good player in the middle of the park.
“So going there and doing as well as we did we can take a lot from it.
“Hopefully if we kick on from this then we can go on a run of our own and stay in touch.
“The gaffer has just said that we just have to play week to week. Last year the boys got to the play-offs and as a team we would love to do that again.
“Dunfermline have spent a bit of money and you’ve got St Mirren and Dundee United. So if we can put ourselves in with them and compete against their budgets then we will have done really well.” sending off and the penalty claim.
“There was contact there, their player said that as well, so it’s a bad call from the referee.
“If that had gone in at 2-1 then I think anybody could see we’d have gotten something out of the game.”
United caretaker manager Laurie Ellis, who took temporary charge following the departure of Ray McKinnon, told Arabzone TV: “It’s mixed emotions for me because that team has been capable of that for weeks.
“We’ve played well today and got a couple of cracking goals, so I’m absolutely delighted about that and it’s a great three points.”
I have marks on my knee. It’s just annoying when calls like that go against you