Cambuslang Rangers boss Paul McColl has urged the Scottish FA referees department to stop sending inexperienced whistlers to their games.
McColl has a few issues with his side’s 3-2 West of Scotland Second Division defeat against leaders Muirkirk, and says the official played a far bigger role in the game than he would expect.
The Camby boss, who was sent off towards the end of the game, says referee Lauchlan Dougall denied them a stonewall penalty and later ran into one of their players, didn’t stop the game with a drop-ball and Muirkirk scored from the incident.
McColl says too often they’re falling foul of inexperienced referees, and it has to stop.
He said: “It has gone too far, now. Too many games are being affected. Even young boys in the team are asking if there is a problem with referees.
“They’re asking why referees have it in for Cambuslang.
“This referee has wrecked the game for us, has absolutely no experience, and these guys are being fast-tracked.
“[Head of refereeing] Willie Collum’s words are that they either sink or swim, but they’re absolutely sinking, and it’s not just at our level.
“We had a clear penalty, Jay Taylor beats the guy, is ready to shoot, and the boy trips him, but the referee waves play on and books Jay.
“He’s booked me twice, with about six or seven minutes left, I don’t even know what for. He couldn’t even explain himself later, said one was for putting my hands up, and one was for persistent shouting or something.
“It sounds like he’s making it up as he goes. He also didn’t collect his money.
“I went up to pay him, and he was away within 10 minutes.”
And McColl said: “It needs to stop, this is the third game we’ve lost this season because of the referee, and the season has just started.
“He ran into our player, didn’t stop the game, and they’ve scored from it! That’s just wrong.
“It’s not acceptable. We were winning the game 2-1 against the team at the top of the league and were never going to get beat.
“It’s junior football, it’s not Sunday morning nice stuff and a wee kick-about.
“It’s guys who are semi-pro who want to win, who are going to be upset if you make a wrong decision and might raise their voice.
“That’s not being aggressive, that’s just getting your point across.
“Willie Collum is setting the standard by getting all these young boys in.
“It’s getting too much now, I’m disgusted with it – they’re sending guys who have no experience.
“Older refs are better, because they take a breather and think before making a decision, but these young guys are too impulsive.
“They need to stop sending these guys and get the older referees back.”
Cambuslang have a bye in the West of Scotland Cup first round this weekend, but have a Second Division match at home to Whitletts Vics.
McColl said: “It’s a hard game, they’ve done well.
“That would have been a really good win, against a good team, and might have helped us to go in front of other teams in the league.
“Now it’s different and we need to win.”
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