Derek McInnes has hit out at the lack of consistency from officials after two contentious incidents in last night’s 1-1 draw at Motherwell.
Liam Polworth’s second-half finish cancelled out Liam Gordon’s early opener for the home side as Killie stretched their unbeaten run to three games.
But it was refereeing decisions that were the main talking point. Killie were denied a clear penalty just after the hour mark when it was ruled that Brad Lyons fouled Andy Halliday when looking to fire at goal – with replays showing the Well man caught his Killie counterpart which would have seen the away side given a penalty.
Then a few minutes after Polworth’s 74th minute equaliser, Motherwell were reduced to 10 men when Dan Casey was sent-off for violent conduct – with referee Chris Graham inexplicably standing by his original decision after a VAR review. The Motherwell defender and Killie sub Danny Armstrong tangled with Armstrong pushing away the defender, who then grabbed his opponent’s shirt initially around the chest before an upwards motion towards Armstrong’s neck.
A bewildered McInnes said: “If the referee gives a penalty, which he should, we win the game. He’s in a brilliant position – we missed chances so it’s not just on that decision – but I spoke to Andy (Halliday) after the game and he knows he’s got away with one. He’s caught Brad, it’s not a bad tackle but he’s mistimed it enough and it’s a penalty kick.
“Why not just come over and see it. I don’t know why he wasn’t. If he looks at it again and still thinks it’s not enough for a penalty then that’s on the referee, but right now that decision is now not on the referee. He’s got a get out of jail free card because the guy in the VAR room hasn’t told him to come over.
“When it’s penalty kick incidents and the red card – which he was asked to come over – should always be checked. I think if he does see it again, he gives the penalty.”
As for the dismissal, McInnes says he felt the whistler made the wrong call, and believes refereeing blunders are now leading to games being managed and coached differently.
He said: “My initial thought on the monitor that we’ve got was that I was preparing for him to come back on because I wasn’t convicned there was enough in it to be a red card. When the referee stands by his decision, that’s on the referee because the VAR official has clearly said to him that you need to come over and have a look at it because he’s not sure.
“There’s this whole thing and the managers are all talking about it – the inconsistency of refereeing decisions for the same incidents in different games. It shouldn’t be dependant on what referee you get and that was another case in point.
“We’ve had the fewest fouls in the league this season but there’s this narrative that we’re such an aggressive and dirty team because of the red card count and it’s hard to defend it. But I think there’s actually only two or three were red cards and the bar’s been set so low.
“My players are getting booked in the first half and straight away I’m thinking ‘I need to get him off’ and it shouldn’t be like that. We’re managing differently because we’re refereeing differently now.”
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