‘Mugged!’ Killie boss fumes at red card decision
Derek McInnes blasted the match officials for the “match-changing” failure to red card Ross Callachan before Kilmarnock slumped to a Dingwall defeat.
The Killie boss insisted the Ross County midfielder’s late, lunging challenge through Ryan Alebiosu should have been a straight sending off.
Callachan eventually did receive a late sending off, but the Staggies won through with Owura Edwards’ late strike.
McInnes raged: “I’m really annoyed with the officials in the first half.
“Callachan’s challenge is outrageous. It is a red card and, between four officials, they’ve got to see what I see.
“It is two feet, off the ground, down the back of our boy’s trailing leg. It was horrendous.
“It was right in front of me.
“And there’s no excuse for the officials not seeing that as a red.
“If Ross County play the majority of the second half with 10 men, I do believe it is a different outcome.
“As good as we were in the second half – and I thought we were the better team – you’ve got to credit County for resilience with 10 men and they found a way to win.”
McInnes, though, was also critical of aspects of his team’s performance.
He felt they failed to make a real impact before the break.
After it, he was pleased with the positions they got into, but criticised their failure to make it count when it mattered
He said: “I thought we really didn’t do much of anything in the first half, other than negate them.
“We never allowed Ross County’s speed to be relevant in the game.
“The first half was pretty even, but we were far better in the second.
“We offered far more and arrived time and again in their box.
“But the game is won and lost in both boxes and we weren’t good enough in their box.
“As good as we were defensively for the majority of the game, we don’t see off one last kick from the halfway line by their keeper.
“We don’t react and it is such a sore one.
“I feel like we’ve been mugged.
“I’m not going to ignore that we should be doing more in the attacking side, but we should have got our first clean sheet of the season here.”