The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Nish rues ‘very harsh’ penalty decision as Cowden lose out
COWDENBEATH 1 STRANRAER 2
Cowdenbeath player-boss Colin Nish was unhappy at the late penalty which gave Stranraer a very fortunate League One win at Central Park on Saturday.
The Fifers had battled back after losing an early goal and had looked like the team which was going to win the game, when, with seconds left, defender Brad Donaldson was adjudged to have illegally stopped a Dale Keenan header with his arm.
Craig Malcolm converted the penalty but there was still time for home midfielder Declan Hughes to pick up a red card for lashing out at Stranraer’s Ryan Thomson.
Nish pointed to the way his side battled back into the game after losing a goal in three minutes from a Thomson 10-yarder and he felt they were robbed of a point at least after Dean Brett’s wellplaced 25-yard free-kick squared the game in 65 minutes.
Nish said: “I felt we did not start well and lost a bad goal, but came back into the game strongly and should have been level by half-time.
“After Dean Brett fired home the equaliser we were the team doing all the attacking and creating chances but then we get the penalty decision.”
The ball cannoned off Brad Donaldson’s arm and referee Gavin Ross pointed to the spot, and the boss went straight into the ref’s room at time-up to discuss the decision with him.
He said: “I felt it was very harsh. Brad had no time to get out of the road, but to be fair to the referee he listened to what I had to say and then explained that he thought that Donaldson had put out his arm to stop the ball.
“It was very difficult for Brad to avoid the ball, such was the speed of the way things developed, and it was a real sickener for us.
“We had played well after losing the first goal and put them under a lot of pressure but ended up losing all three points, which I felt was totally undeserved.”
Stranraer boss Brian Reid said it was the sort of incident where ‘some are given and some are not’ but he felt his side were rewarded for keeping their workrate at a high level.