Dyer insists Killie were denied two penalties of their own

KILMARNOCK boss Alex Dyer claimed his team were denied a couple of penalties on a night when a spot-kick secured a point for Ross County. Having taken the lead through Ross Draper, County were caught out when second-half goals from Alan Power and Chris Burke nudged the visitors ahead. Burke’s handball then allowed Ross Stewart to equalise from the spot but Dyer was adamant Killie deserved something too. ‘I was definitely disappointed,’ he said. ‘It was a good game for the neutrals, but we should have won the game based on our second-half performance. ‘We should have had a couple of penalties — and the one they got I thought was a bit dubious. But we got a point and we have to be grateful for that. ‘The officials definitely had an impact.

They’ve got to call what they see, but from where we were I thought it was blatant. ‘Burke is an experienced player, he got past his man and got pulled down. ‘Even if the referee hasn’t seen it, the linesman is right on that side, he should see it. ‘The penalty we didn’t get in the second half was definitely a spot-kick. ‘I asked the ref after the game and he told me it was Ross Stewart, I think, his arm was right beside his body, and when you see it it’s not, it’s right up in the air. ‘They got a dubious penalty as well, but we got a point. ‘We can go back up the road on two points now and three good performances so, hopefully come the weekend, we can try to turn that into a win.’

County boss Stuart Kettlewell claimed he was to blame for Kilmarnock’s comeback after encouraging his players to be too expansive with the game hanging in the balance. ‘It was from us being in possession that we concede the second goal, so I’ve just said to the players I take full responsibility for that by asking them to try to pass the ball and be creative (at that stage),’ he said. ‘When you come up against good players like Chris Burke, these guys can punish you and we know that. ‘You could see our players’ frustration when we lost the goal and allowed them back into the game. ‘We created two or three chances and I was pleased with the response and their play. ‘However, I can’t be too critical, it is seven points out of nine at the start of the season.’ County were superb in the first half in particular and Kettlewell added: ‘It was a cracking game. Both teams had spells in the game, both had chances. There was a bit of incident in the game. ‘We have no right to dominate any game from start to finish, but we did dominate a lot of the first half — and I thought we had a decent chunk of the second half. ‘Kilmarnock came right back into it and were more expansive in the second half, but we did dominate large parts of the game, which I’m really pleased about.’