Gunnion bemoans officials’ decisions
Ross Gunnion was disappointed by “very poor” decisions from the officials as Jeanfield Swifts exited the Scottish Cup.
The Perth side, competing in the second round for the first time, lost out 3-1 against League Two Annan Athletic at Galabank on Saturday.
Riverside manager Gunnion was left to think what might have been following two controversial calls when the score was locked at 0-0 in the opening half.
First, goalkeeper Ryan Adamson was only shown a yellow card by referee Steven Reid after handling outside of the box. Gunnion admitted he was “gobsmacked” it was not red.
And then, moments later, Swifts defender Jake Dolzanski had a well- placed header harshly ruled out for offside.
“The officials’ decisions in the first half were very poor,” Gunnion said. “The offside decision is not even marginal having seen the highlights.
“I actually fail to see a point in that phase of play where our player is offside at any point.
“You’re expecting the officials to be up to a standard that fits the occasion but I would honestly say the performance of the referee and his far side official in the first half are a huge contributing factor to us losing the game.
“Certainly, if they had made the right decisions, which were certainly not difficult to call having seen the highlights, we would have been entering half-time 1-0 ahead and with the advantage of Annan being down to 10 men.
“We should be sitting here talking about the effort and application of our players, whether we won, drew or lost.
“But instead we’re left frustrated as the effort of our players is undermined by the poor standard of decision making by the officials.”
Gunnion praised Annan for how they came out and performed in the second half.
“I don’t think we performed as well as we could’ve,” he said.
“First half we were the better team – without being at our best.
“We played through the lines really well at times and our press from middle to front was good. We got opportunities.
“But credit to Annan in the second half because they got more aggressive and used their physicality a lot better.
“They are experienced and I imagine they will comfortably be mid-table in League Two.
“That experience told in the second half.
“They came out and did a thoroughly professional job, limiting us to very few chances. They capitalised with a penalty and a set-piece.”