UNHAPPY HOMECOMING
Osman gutted to be booed by Jags on return
CHAMPIONSHIP PARTICK TH 1 FALKIRK 1
ABDUL Osman, the former Partick Thistle captain, admits that he was so shocked to be booed upon his return to Firhill on Saturday with Falkirk that he might have got sent off if he wasn’t substituted in the second half.
The midfielder was so taken aback by the hostile reception he received from the Thistle fans that he says he was losing his head before manager Ray McKinnon removed him from the firing line just after the hour-mark.
That being said though, Osman is hoping that both his present and former club can dig themselves out of trouble at the bottom end of the Championship.
“I was surprised to be honest,” Osman said. “I was here for so long and I personally thought I had done alright for the club. But it is what it is. It’s nothing new to me. To be honest I don’t know why I got a reception like that.
“I didn’t expect it at all. The first time I got a touch of the ball from a throw-in and I heard the jeers and I was like...f***! When you hear that through the game you want to do more but it’s taking you away from your own game. I think I probably would have got sent off if I hadn’t been taken off to be honest because I was losing my head.
“I’ve got a soft spot for Thistle and I wouldn’t want to be ones that send them down. I wish them well, I had fun at Thistle for four years and I loved every minute of it, so no bad feelings.”
Jags boss Gary Caldwell accused Dallas of being arrogant after the game and blamed him for putting livelihoods at stake with his controversial decision to show a second yellow card to Gary Harkins with Thistle a goal to the good through Blair Spittal.
He may have a point in his questioning of the second caution, which was of the soft variety, but his assessment of the afternoon rather fails to address why two Falkirk players had the freedom of the home six-yard area just two minutes after the ordering off to drag the visitors level.
Ciaran McKenna’s initial header was saved by Conor Hazard, but Zak Rudden – who only had the extension of his loan from Rangers confirmed on Saturday lunchtime – was on hand to pick up the scraps.