United left fuming over referee display
St Anthony’s ............ 2 Newmains Utd ......... 1 Newmains United will contact the head of referees’ appointments to discuss Jim Burns’ display on Saturday.
Co-manager Paul Davies admits his own team need to take responsibility for their actions after losing their second game in a row.
But he will speak to the SFA’S Lewis Cameron – who deals with whistlers in the non-professional game – after being left gutted at Burns’ handling of the defeat at in-form Saint Anthony’s.
Shaun Gallacher’s late winner ensured Mikey Barton’s equaliser was just a consolation as United finished with ten men following William Mcglone’s controversial second yellow card.
Picking his words carefull, Davies said: “All I’m going to say is we were disappointed at the standard of refereeing on Saturday.
“I’m urging the league to look at the competency of refereeing.
“We know refereeing games is an extremely difficult job and we will always be grateful to the individuals who step out onto the park to take charge of our games.
“However, this is semi-professional football and a less aggressive official could have saved himself a headache after the game on the weekend.
“Contacting Lewis Cameron is something we would not do unless we had major concerns.
“But rather than go into detail in public about the specific issues we have, we shall be writing to Lewis to privately highlight the matter in the hope other teams don’t face similar situations to what we had on the weekend.”
Co-boss Davies’ disappointment at the defeat was deepened because he believes his players are good enough to finish in the top half of League Two.
But he insists it’s time the squad realise they are too as they prepare for a tough trip to Ayrshire side Whitletts Victoria in the first round of the West of Scotland Cup this weekend.
Davies added: “At half- time the message was it’s time to take responsibility. There have been too many games where we’ve sat back and not believed in ourselves.
“There seems be a sense of it being acceptable to be 1-0 down because so many people are saying how well we are doing since last year. It’s almost like there’s a belief that losing by one goal is okay.
“Every player in our team can step up a level and we will struggle to hold on to players next year because of that.
But as a group they need to realise they are good enough to be in the top half of the league and compete as a team. I believe we are that good.”