OWEN Coyle described Ross County’s controversial defeat to Hamilton Academical as one of the biggest travesties of his career after a number of decisions by rookie referee Gavin Duncan went against his side.
The former Bolton manager was left furious as Duncan, officiating a Premiership match for the first time, awarded Accies a debateable first half penalty before failing to spot infringements leading up to Accies’ 90th-minute winner as they triumphed 3-2 at the SuperSeal Stadium.
Dougie Imrie put Hamilton in front from the penalty spot in the first half after going down under the challenge of Michaele Gardyne. County were awarded a spot kick of their own with 17 minutes remaining which Craig Curran converted at the second attempt, but Georgios Sarris put the hosts back in front just two minutes later.
Kenny van der Weg looked to have sealed a point for the Staggies when he headed them level six minutes from time, but Gardyne picked up a second yellow card before Jamie Lindsay’s own goal at the death gave Martin Canning’s side the three points.
Ioannis Skondras was shown a straight red in stoppage time for his role in a touchline ruckus and Gary Woods performed a spectacular late save, but Accies held on to end an eight-match winless run at home and push County into the relegation play-off spot, leaving Coyle furious.
“I thought some of our play was terrific today, we created a lot of chances and to leave with no points, I’ve been in the game a long time and it’s certainly one of the biggest travesties ever,” he said.
“I’m always loathe to be critical of officials because they’ve got such a tough job but my goodness, some of the key decisions. The little fouls, we all get them and I get that, but the major decisions affect games.
“The penalty, Dougie Imrie is already on the way down before there is any contact. The third one, Imrie actually slips which leads to the free-kick. And from that point it hits Jamie Lindsay in the back because he’s lying down, he’s already been pushed to the ground with two hands in the box.”
He added: “I’ll be the first to hold my hands up when you’re beaten by somebody that’s better than you on the day, but nothing could be further from the truth today, it’s an absolute travesty what happened today in terms of the result and it rubs salt into the wounds when it’s been made by an infringement.”
Hamilton manager Martin Canning admitted that some questionable decisions had been made during the game, but insisted that the officiating had no bearing on the final result as his side pulled four points clear of the drop zone.
“I don’t think it was his best game,” he said. “I don’t like to criticise referees, it’s a difficult job and they get one time to see things. They will have days when they get everything right and some days when they get things wrong the same way that we will as managers, today was maybe one of those days but it’s part of the game.
“Thankfully for us we’ve come out on top so you don’t get as frustrated when that happens. When you lose it tends to be the thing that magnifies in your mind, that it’s the reason you’ve lost, and probably when you look back it’s not.”
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