GRAEME SHINNIE left his old stomping ground on Monday night wondering why his Aberdeen team played so badly and why Willie Collum made the decisions he did.
The latter is an easier one to work out, given the referee’s CV is littered with interesting performances such as this one. He wrongly awarded Inverness Caledonian Thistle a penalty and missed two strong claims from the visitors, one of which involved Shinnie.
The left-back, who captained his team against his former one, was honest enough to admit that for all Aberdeen’s bad luck, they were not at it at all. Leading 1-0 and playing well, a mistake from Ash Taylor allowed Ian Vigurs to equalise and from that moment the home side were far superior.
Had Aberdeen won, they would have drawn level with Celtic with a chance to go ahead of them if they didn’t lose at Partick Thistle on Friday night. They were below their best but were hardly helped by some poor decisions.
“We didn’t perform to the levels we have done, so on that front it was very disappointing,” said Shinnie. “Also, a couple of decisions didn’t go our way, which is disappointing as well.
“I don’t think it was a penalty. I have watched it back and there was one exactly the same on myself, so it’s inconsistency. He has given one and not the other. Why? You would have to ask him. He has made the decisions; I feel he got them wrong.
“I don’t think our performance was up there with what we are capable of. That is frustrating. But it was a big decision at a big time of the game and it hasn’t gone our way. It is a crucial stage of the game, it was even, and a time when both teams were trying to gain an advantage and he’s made a bad decision.”
As captain, Shinnie was allowed to speak with Collum after he awarded a penalty for a ‘foul’ by Taylor on Ross Draper. At least he tried to.
“It’s hard to speak to him,” said Shinnie. “I asked him the question and he said to me that his foot caught him. But both of their feet are high, both are going for the ball and I feel as if he got the decision wrong and we can’t do much about it.
“And exactly the same thing happened to me, I got for the ball and he caught me, and he’s not given it. Only he can answer why."
Aberdeen are now skating on thin ice. They still have a chance in the league, Celtic are certain to drop points and they play Inverness at home this weekend, but anything other than a win at Firhill on Friday night would more or less end the men from the north east’s chance to make history.
“We can’t dwell on this,” said Shinnie. “Games come thick and fast and we have to shake this off. All we can do now is focus on the games coming up and getting back to winning ways on Friday.
“I think every game is a must-win, especially where we want to go. We want to go down on Friday and put in a good performance.
“Inverness are tough opponents. Obviously I was at the club and that’s the way Inverness like to play so it will be a tough game for Celtic as well. All we can do is focus on Partick Thistle and try to win that.
“Everything can fuel us for Friday. I don’t think we performed, decisions didn’t go out way and we need to take out our frustrations on Partick.”
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