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Daily Record
Sport
Paul Thomson

Airdrie boss in astonishing ref rant as he blasts 'appalling' display from 'centre of attention' official

Airdrie player-boss Rhys McCabe blasted ref Ross Hardie after they battled out a dramatic draw with Dunfermline.

The Diamonds had keeper Josh Rae sent off in 82 minutes for a foul on Craig Wighton in the box, with the score locked level at 1-1 after Nikolay Todorov's header had cancelled out Ben Stanway's opener for the visitors.

But Diamonds sub keeper David Hutton produced a heroic save from the resultant penalty to deny Kyle Benedictus and earn them a point against the league leaders.

Hardie was in the firing line post-match after five yellows, one red and a sending off for Pars No.2 Dave Mackay in the final moments.

And McCabe - whose side lost 4-3 to the Pars last week with 10 men - didn't hold back in his assessment of the whistler and his assistants.

He fumed: "I am sick of biting my tongue.

"There's a reason these referees are getting relegated to the Lowland League every single week.

"And I'm not just saying that from an Airdrie standpoint.

"Decisions and the level of inconsistency throughout the game for both sides is appalling.

"At the penalty, you can clearly see that Wighton is looking for the ball and he actually kicks Josh and dives six feet in the air.

"The ref couldn't be any quicker to get the red card out.

"But we dealt with it, as we have done on many occasions this season.

"I don't know how close Callum Fordyce's header is in the first half but it looked clearly over the line as well."

He continued: "My concern is that referees always make the game about themselves.

"I find that a good referee makes the game flow. Good or bad, you can speak to him in a manner that gives a bit of respect, you do the same back.

"But too often these days, referees make it all about them and they are the centre of attention.

"I think before he [Wighton] went down, the red card was out of the ref's top pocket

"But we've come here and defended really well and improved from last week, which is a positive."

Dunfermline boss James McPake also had major complaints over the official's display and said he will be taking his concerns to referee chief Crawford Allan.

He said: "I believe that ref has done five games at this level and it showed, for both teams.

"They are human beings and they make errors but what I don't like is they are so unapproachable.

"I will speak to Crawford Allan about it and he will tell me if I'm right or wrong.

Dunfermline boss James McPake (Dunfermline Athletic FC)

"We try to build relationships with refs but there seems to be a resistance from some referees to speak to you, which is a problem.

"It looked a worse game than it was. He didn't have control of the game."

The result was enough to keep Airdrie third in the table, a point ahead of fourth-place Edinburgh and eight points adrift of second-place Falkirk, who they host next week.

Pars are five points clear at the summit and 13 clear of the Diamonds.

Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.

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