HAMMERS REFEREE

FALKIRK boss Peter Houston turned his fury on referee Euan Anderson yesterday, accusing him of giving Dunfermline a huge helping hand.

The Pars grabbed a share of the points after Rhys McCabe scored from the spot in 59 minutes when Tom Taiwo was penalised for handball.

After watching footage of the second-half flashpoint, Houston declared Anderson did not have a clear view of the incident.

McCabe made no mistake from 12 yards to cancel out Myles Hippolyte’s opener and Houston, who had hopes of moving third ahead of Morton, didn’t hide his anger at full time.

He said: “How the ref can tell the ball hit Tom Taiwo on the hand I don’t know. When you see his angle, he is behind the player.

“Tom’s hand is up by his chest, he jumped up and it hit him on the chest, is that deliberate? What’s the definition of deliberate?

“I thought they needed a bit of help to get the goal and the referee was willing to do that.”

Houston also reckoned Pars skipper Andy Geggan should’ve been red-carded for a first-half challenge on Hippolyte with Geggan picking up a yellow for the incident.

He said: “I’ll need to get the definition of red and yellow cards as well because Myles Hippolyte skips away from the right-back and he just wipes him out deliberately with no attempt to play the ball.”

After a minute’s applause following the recent death of Dunfermline director Margaret Ross, the Bairns grabbed the opener in 10 minutes.

Left-back Tony Gallacher sped past John Baird and after a perfectly-weighted pass from his team-mate, the 17-year-old kept his composure in the box to tee up Hippolyte.

The Pars deservedly levelled in the 59th minute with McCabe’s penalty after Taiwo was penalised for blocking Joe Cardle’s cross.

Gaffer Allan Johnston felt the point had been earned – they racked up eight firsthalf corners – saying: “We dominated the first half and to go a goal down was a bit of a travesty for all the good play that we had had.”