We can’t blame the referees if our title challenge goes up in smoke
SAYS ADAM ROONEY
IN Scotland, baiting Willie Coll um has become almost as popular a national pastime as the sport he referees so controversially. Aberdeen striker Adam Rooney, however, was last night reticent to join in the chorus of condemnation of the match official.
The latest blunder in a season pock- marked by high- profile errors came when Collum awarded Inverness Caley Thistle a penalty at a crucial stage of the Dons’ 3-1 defeat at the Caledonian Stadium on Monday night.
Just about everyone watching, bar Collum, could see there had been no contact between Ash Taylor and Ross Draper. The decision saw Greg Tansey, an Aberdeen target during the January transfer window, score from the spot to damage the Pittodrie club’s title challenge.
Earlier, Rooney had got the Dons off to a flying start with his 19th league goal of the season but the Irishman knows Aberdeen have benefitted handsomely from poor refereeing decisions this season.
As his side prepare to travel to Firhill tonight to face Partick Thistle, Rooney was reminded why it would be hypocritical to blame Collum for Aberdeen’s failure to extend their unbeaten run to 13 games in the Highlands.
Back in August, it was match official Stephen Finnie who was in the spotlight as the 27-year- old Rooney controlled the ball with his hand before scoring the first in a 2-0 win against the Jags.
Rooney ( right), whose side would go level on points with Celtic should they win tonight, knows the fate of the Dons’ title bid should not rest with the odd poor refereeing call.
‘You have to make sure you get yourself into a position in a match where decisions don’t matter,’ he said. ‘ You’ve got to take things into your own hands. Yes, decisions went against us on Monday but that happens over a season and we’ve had ones in our favour this year.
‘They equal themselves out. Sometimes they go f or you, sometimes they go against.
‘Yes it’s frustrating when it goes the other way, but you can’t dwell on it and you just have to get on with things. Referees have a difficult j ob, they are under pressure to make decisions.
‘We have looked at our own performance as well. We had time to get back into the game but we didn’t do that, so we have to learn from that.
‘We are going to Thistle focused on our own performance and not thinking about anything else.’
Tonight will be Rooney’s 100th appearance for Aberdeen since Derek McInnes rescued the player from a nightmare spell at Oldham Athletic just over two years ago.
With 12 games to go, Rooney looks set to beat the Dons record of 22 league goals set by Duncan Shearer i n 1993 and Frank McDougall the last time they won the title in 1985.
However, such is the quality of strikers in Ireland, he knows even that might not be good enough for a place in Martin O’Neill’s squad for the European Championships in France this summer.
‘I have been around the fringes of the squad and am scoring goals for Aberdeen at the minute,’ said Rooney. ‘All I can do is keep that up and see what happens when the boss announces his squad.
‘When I have joined up with the squad, it has been great and the staff have been complimentary about how I’m getting on at Aberdeen.
‘All I can do is focus on my own game and score goals here. If I do that, then hopefully that will be enough to push me in and around the squad.
‘I don’t know if me scoring is being noticed in Ireland. I don’t see the papers back home or anything like that. Have I booked a holiday for the summer? No, not yet because I’ll have to wait and see what I’m going. And I have a young lad now as well, so I’ll have to see where we can take him…’
Aberdeen were this week hit by the news that Jonny Hayes is out for a month with a hamstring strain. But the Dons welcome back Ryan Jack f rom i njury against a team McInnes believes are in a false position for now. ‘I say before every Thistle game how good a side they are,’ said the Pittodrie boss. ‘ They will have top- six aspirations. It’s always a challenge away from home. We’ve had three tough a way games in a r ow — St Johnstone, Inverness and now Partick. ‘They are all capable of beating us and we’ve got to make sure we bring a good performance because they will believe they can make the top six. ‘Alan Archibald will be making sure they keep themselves away from the bottom end, but they can look up and try to force their way into the top six.’