DAZED AND CONFUSED...
Collum decision to book Lafferty for elbow leaves Gardyne baffled
I just don’t understand the decision. It’s either nothing or it’s a red card
MICHAEL GARDYNE was left to rue one or two of his own decisions as Ross County passed up a glorious opportunity to really ease the strain at the bottom of the Premiership.
However, it was referee Willie Collum’s call to let Kilmarnock striker Kyle Lafferty stay on the field with 20 minutes to play after catching
Iain Vigurs with a flying arm near the touchline that Gardyne found most difficult to come to terms with.
Collum was directly in front of the incident that left Staggies captain Vigurs on the deck with blood pouring from a smashed nose and eventually having to be replaced after extensive treatment on the sidelines. He saw it clearly enough to reach the conclusion Lafferty deserved a booking.
And that’s the bit Gardyne simply cannot understand. If it was deemed an offence worthy of punishment, why on earth did Collum allow the Northern Irishman to stay on the park and let Killie see out the 90 minutes with 11 men?
‘I don’t understand the decision because it is either nothing or it is a red,’ said Gardyne. ‘I don’t know how you can get a yellow card for elbowing someone.
‘Unfortunately, Iain has gone from a seven out of ten to a four out of ten in his looks now. I was at the other side of the pitch when it happened but you could still hear that slapping sound.
‘Iain was insisting it should have been a red and so were the other lads around him. You could see it was a bad one with all the blood pouring from his nose.
‘It almost changed the game in their favour as Iain was off the pitch for five minutes getting treatment and they regained the momentum.
‘Still, it is a draw away from home in the first game of the split. After the split, if you can draw your away games and win at home, you will be okay.
‘There’s no doubt we should have won but we can still take plenty from it.’
County should have won. They had more of the ball and the better chances. One of them fell to Gardyne just before Vigurs was taken off and might still come back to haunt him as this almighty battle to avoid the drop develops.
Killie seized a thirdminute lead through a Chris Burke volley and Gardyne got County back on level terms within 90 seconds when moving on to a flick-on from Billy Mckay, chesting the ball down inside the area and firing home for his first goal since February 2019.
Mitch Pinnock got the hosts back in front with a turn and shot from inside the area but the pendulum had very much swung County’s way by the time Alex Iacovitti headed home a Vigurs corner — initiating Killie claims he pushed Zech Medley — shortly after his team-mate Jordan White had hit the bar at the start of the second 45.
That’s when Gardyne’s moment of truth beckoned. Harry Paton had only just entered the play as substitute for Jordan Tillson when taking the ball on the run up the right, streaking clear and setting up the 35-year-old with a splendid cutback. He had plenty of time to set himself directly in front of goal and his reaction, holding his head in his hands, after screwing the ball well wide with a first-time effort told its own story. Mind you, it might have been worse. Killie could have snatched it in time added on when Burke broke clear on the right but visiting keeper Ross Laidlaw did well to save low. ‘I’m delighted to get the goal as it is the first for a while but I’m still not happy,’ said Gardyne. ‘I definitely should have had two at least. ‘One I have just tried to guide it with the side of my foot when I should have just laced it. We gained a point on Hamilton, though, and we are now down to four games now. ‘I think it helps that myself and a few others have been in this position. I
have been in this position when we stayed up and also when we went down.
‘And the way we played against Kilmarnock was exactly what is required. The only negative is the cheap goals we conceded. If we can cut that out then I think it is all positive.’
Staying positive is what it is all about when trying to avoid that most desperate fate of relegation. Pinnock knows that, too, having escaped the drop from England’s League One with AFC Wimbledon on goal difference in 2019 following a closing run of results that brought just one defeat in 12.
That was a modern-day version of the Great Escape, all right, and the 26-year-old hopes to use that experience in the weeks ahead as Killie bid to keep their heads above water.
‘We were ten points adrift at the bottom of the league and still stayed up, so I know what you have to do,’ said Pinnock. ‘You have to play each game and not look too far into the future.
‘With the players we have here, everyone knows we shouldn’t be in this position. It hasn’t really been going for us.
‘Even when the new manager came in at the start we were playing well, but we missed opportunities. Our aim now is maximum points.
‘I think we all know that we weren’t quite at it on Saturday.
‘I thought, after we scored the first, we would go on the front foot, but we tried to defend a bit and took a step back. We probably did that a bit too much, really.’
KILMARNOCK (4-2-3-1): Doyle 6; McGowan 6, Broadfoot 6, Medley 4, Haunstrup 5; Power 6, Dicker 6; Burke 7, McKenzie 6 (Kiltie 71), Pinnock 6; Lafferty 5. Subs not used: Rogers, Dikamona, Rossi, Waters, Mulumbu, Dabo, Oakley, Whitehall. Booked: McKenzie, Lafferty, Power. ROSS COUNTY (4-4-2): Laidlaw 6; Naismith 6, Watson 6, Iacovitti 6, Tremarco 6; Tillson 6 (Paton 69), Draper 6, Vigurs 7 (Kelly 75), Gardyne 7 (Hylton 80); Mckay 7 (Charles-Cook 80), White 7. Subs not used: Hilton, Shaw, Lakin, Donaldson, Wright. Booked: Tillson, Naismith, Vigurs. Man of the match: Michael Gardyne. Referee: Willie Collum.