Goodwin slams penalty ‘divers’ Taylor and Murphy
St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin believes it is time to name and shame Scottish football’s divers — as he turned the spotlight on Celtic’s Greg taylor and Hibernian winger Jamie Murphy. Goodwin is still furious over the penalty awarded against his side during Wednesday night’s 4-0 hammering by Celtic.
Saints’ hopes of stunning Celtic for the second time in ten days were ruined when neil Lennon’s team got a crucial second goal from the spot after ryan Flynn was adjudged to have fouled taylor.
But Goodwin says the Scotland left-back should be ‘embarrassed’ by how easily he went down as he also pointed the finger at Murphy. ‘the penalty the other night was a joke,’ declared the Saints boss. ‘ryan Flynn touches Greg taylor’s shoulder and pulls away quickly. then taylor’s legs fall away beneath him. i can understand players if they are tripped or kicked falling over. i can’t understand players falling over if someone touches their shoulder. ‘People will say he allowed the referee to make a decision. that’s pathetic. it’s not a reason to give a penalty. ‘We had similar against Hibs three games ago. it seems to be certain individuals who are very good at it. Hibs got a penalty against Aberdeen recently and it was the same player involved. it’s just minimal contact. ‘the same players are winning these penalties and referees need to wise up to it.
‘We need to start naming and shaming. i think the game is taking a turn for the worse if we’re going to stand giving away penalties for the slightest of contact in the box. ‘We had a penalty awarded to us against Motherwell that was soft but i’d rather we didn’t get that kind of penalty because it’s a hard time now to be a defender as they just can’t touch anyone. ‘i’d be embarrassed if i was some of these players watching these incidents back. i’d be cringing.’ Goodwin says it is time Scottish football stumped up the money to bring in VAr and called on the compliance officer to get tough on persistent offenders in the meantime. He added: ‘the compliance officer needs to get involved more and suspensions need to be handed out to the offenders.’
Goodwin will be without midfielder Jamie McGrath for the match at Aberdeen today after he dislocated his shoulder. And striker eamonn Brophy is likely to miss the rest of the season with a fractured foot.