FALKIRK'S hopes of claiming seventh place in the SPL suffered another setback on Saturday as the Bairns, who could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to doomed Gretna last weekend, went down 1-0 to St Mirren at Love Street.
Once again manager John Hughes was outspoken in his criticism of the refereeing system within the SPL, continuing with his well-publicised belief that matches involving his team are being used as a "learning tool" for "rookie refs".
Yogi's views
on the matter were intensified by the 75th minute red card which was issued by whistler Scott McDonald to Bairns midfielder Arnau Riera who was, perhaps harshly, deemed to have used an elbow while competing for a high ball with Saints' Andy Dorman.
And to rub salt into Falkirk's wounds, it was Dorman who subsequently recorded the winning goal, volleying past Shane Supple five minutes from the end. Falkirk had rarely threatened Mark Howard's goal in what was an uninspiring 90 minutes for the travelling supporters and their only real scoring opportunity arrived early in the second half when striker Carl Finnigan advanced on goal before blasting his shot high over the bar when left with only the Saints keeper to beat.
"I always felt that one goal would be enough to settle this game," reflected Hughes, "but in all honesty we never really looked like scoring.
"We played some nice football but the goal went St Mirren's way and good luck to them.
"The sending off undoubtedly changed the game – we were dominating possession at the time and I don't think we would have lost had we not been reduced to ten men. I'm not being critical of the referee's performance but the system's wrong – this guy has only been in charge of five senior games all season and he was thrown in at the deep end."
The full article contains 318 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
