HAMPDEN ROW REFEREE SHOULD HAVE BEEN RESTED, INSISTS ARCHIBALD
Archibald says whistler should have been rested
ALAN ARCHIBALD last night accused referee Steven McLean of ignoring a stonewall penalty for his Partick Thistle side at Hamilton and insisted the under-fire official should never have taken the game given the fallout from his display at Hampden on Sunday.
McLean has been the subject of fierce criticism in the wake of the Betfred Cup semi-final between Motherwell and Rangers in which he sent rival managers Pedro Caixinha and Stephen Robinson to the stand, but missed Ryan Bowman and Fabio Cardoso throwing elbows, as well as Ibrox defender Bruno Alves kicking Louis Moult.
Thistle boss Archibald feels the whistler (below) was just desperate to get through last night’s game without any further controversy and branded the 73rd-minute incident in which Accies’ Dougie Imrie handled a shot from Ryan Edwards in the area as ‘ridiculous’.
Opposite number Martin Canning also felt McLean had failed to award his side two penalty kicks over the course of the goalless draw.
Archibald said: ‘Look, I’m not battering Stevie, but he had a big game on Sunday and, when refs have games like that, they just want to get through the next one and maybe he shouldn’t have been taking the game.
‘He’s a good referee, but I think he just wanted to get through the game because I’m in a bit of disbelief after watching it back.
‘The handball was ridiculous. I thought the only reason he didn’t give it was because the players were so close when Ryan blasted the ball, but he moved his hands like a goalkeeper towards his face. And the ref is in a great position.
‘Dougie lifted his hands up to protect his face. I don’t think the rules allow you to do that.
‘I thought we edged it. We had a couple of great chances and a couple of penalty claims as well, one of which was an absolute stonewaller. After watching it back, it looks even worse.’
Accies midfielder Greg Docherty claimed he had been pulled in the area by Jordan Turnbull on 22 minutes and manager Canning felt there was another strong penalty claim when Niall Keown fouled Antonio Rojano only for McLean to decide it was outside the area.
‘First half, we should have had two (penalties),’ said Canning. ‘I thought Antonio’s was inside the box and I thought Greg got manhandled to the ground. I thought he (McLean) went to give the one with Greg and then changed his mind. I haven’t seen theirs back, but they seemed to think they should have had two as well.’ Canning may have taken some solace from the fact Accies’ six-game losing run is over but, on last night’s form, it’s going to be a long, hard season for his team. Thistle had the best of the match but they were nothing special either and it’s easy to see why they have won just one of their last 11. Both teams have a number of first-team players missing through injury and it showed, with Accies failing to manage a shot on goal. If David Templeton can’t convert the chance that came his way against the run of play with quarter-of-an-hour left, he might never score again.
It looked like Accies might have weathered the storm at the start of the second half, when Imrie made progress up the left flank and cut the ball back into Templeton’s path around eight yards from goal.
The home fans screamed in anticipation. It was a glorious opportunity to grab the kind of undeserved victory that can turn things round. He blazed it miles wide of Tomas Cerny’s left-hand post.
It was quite unforgivable but victory would have been wholly undeserved.
Thistle started on the front foot with Keown testing fit-again Gary Woods from distance with a speculative shot after just six minutes.
Switching to a 3-1-4-2 formation to match Accies and putting Miles Storey up front beside Kris Doolan, the Jags did produce some chances.
Keown put a header wide from a Blair Spittal free-kick shortly after his initial effort and Archibald’s side were a little unlucky on 18 minutes when Alex Gogic’s slack pass was picked up by Edwards, who cracked a shot off the inside of Woods’ left-hand post.
Storey tried to latch on to the rebound and felt he should have been awarded a penalty-kick after going down in the area under a challenge from Imrie.
As it was, the ball made its way to Paul McGinn at the edge of the box and his low shot was well held by the keeper.
Accies handed a first start to Argentinian striker Rojano following a painful delay in receiving international clearance. He didn’t see a terrific amount of the ball but did produce a nice piece of skill on ten minutes. He controlled a cross from Ioannis Skondras with his back to goal, spun round and sent a low shot wide.
Midway through the first half came the moment when Docherty felt he should have been given a penalty, going down in the area with Turnbull breathing down his neck. Docherty felt Turnbull had tugged his shirt. Referee McLean disagreed.
Storey saw a cross-cum-shot bounce off the bar early in the second period and ought to have put Jags ahead on 66 minutes.
Spittal picked him out with a diagonal forward ball from midfield to leave him one-on-one with the advancing Woods. All Storey had to do was dink the ball over him delicately and let it bounce merrily into the net.
His touch was way too heavy and it soared miles over.
Partick were enjoying a spell in the ascendancy but were to be left furious with McLean 17 minutes from time. A shot from Edwards appeared to strike Imrie’s arm inside the area before breaking out right to McGinn.
The wing-back’s angled shot was well saved by Woods. However, when play had stopped, the protests over the Imrie incident started in earnest. McLean was not for turning.
All that was left was for Templeton to miss that sitter 15 minutes from time.
HAMILTON (3-5-2): Woods; Gogic, Tomas (Donati 76), McMann; Skondras, Boyd (Templeton 49), Mackinnon, Docherty, Imrie; Rojano, Biabi. Subs not used: Jamieson, Longridge, Lyon, Ferguson. Booked: Boyd. PARTICK THISTLE (3-1-4-2): Cerny; Keown, Devine, Turnbull; Barton; McGinn, Spittal, Edwards, Lawless; Doolan, Storey. Subs not used: Scully, Erskine, Nitriansky, Sammon, Nisbet, Fraser. Booked: Keown, Turnbull. Man of the Match: Gary Woods. Referee: Steven McLean. Attendance: 2,236.