Airdrie manager John Rankin joked he was "surprised the ball boys never got booked" after his side's scrappy 1-1 draw with East Kilbride, as he criticised the officials for ruining the game as a contest.
The Diamonds made it back-to-back draws in League One thanks to Liam McLeish winning and converting an 82nd-minute penalty that cancelled out Sean Fagan's headed opener for East Kilbride just after the hour mark at New Broomfield.
But there was very little football played in this Lanarkshire derby as referee Grant Irvine and his assistants Paul McAvinue and Kieran Gibson presided over a stop-start clash that included seven bookings on the pitch and six in the technical area, including a red card for one of the East Kilbride coaching staff and bookings for both Rankin and Kilby boss Mick Kennedy.
Frustration boils over
A second-half melee was sparked when Jamie Hamilton's late tackle on Ewan Simpson in the middle of the park led to some handbags and a couple of bookings to try to calm things down. The frustration even spilled over into the stands as supporters groaned at the incessant pauses in play for telling-offs or minor misdemeanours.
A frustrated Rankin told Lanarkshire Live Sport: "I'm surprised the ball boys never got booked. I am all for a battle and a game but I think the match was wasted because of pointless bookings and pointless fouls. It was two teams who wanted to play but were unable to play. For me, that is frustrating and for the crowd as well. They were more annoyed about the officials than anything."
Rankin added: "I know the officials have a really tough job but let the referee referee it. Linesman are linesman for a reason, don't get involved, but I think that's what allowed today [to happen]. There were six bookings in the technical area, it's crazy. Let the game be about the football that is played on it because we have two good young teams here; go let them play. I thought it was so stop-start that it spoiled it."
Both managers critical
Rankin also said: "Listen, I think Grant is a great referee but I don't think he was allowed to referee it because the linesman were 'trying to help him'. At the end of the day, it was a 1-1 game and a fair battle between two good teams who were not allowed to play. But I thought our young guys showed some great character to get themselves back into the game."
His counterpart, Mick Kennedy, was also scathing. He said: "It was a horrendous watch. I am not here to put on that kind of performance or play that style of football. And I am certainly not going to take up my Saturday night analysing it, somebody else can do that this week. I thought the referee was a bit pedantic at times. Even times when he booked someone, I felt he could have played on and then gone back and done it at a later stage. There were far too many counter attacks broken down when he could have played an advantage. It was very stop-start and too many fouls from both teams. There was no ebb and flow to it."
Kennedy added: "The game was not a good standard. It was a hard watch. If you had paid £23 for that you would want your money back. Airdrie were set up very defensively to try and catch us on the break, which I expected them to be, but I don't think we did enough with the possession we had. We weren't aggressive enough and far too safe at times so we are disappointed."
Match action
Kilby found the opener in 65 minutes when substitute and ex-Diamond Lewis McGrattan swung in a corner from the left and Fagan was given the freedom of New Broomfield to rise unmarked and power home a header.
However, Airdrie were handed a lifeline seven minutes from time when Hamilton stuck out a leg in the box and brought down Liam McLeish. The striker dusted himself down and buried his penalty with aplomb into the bottom left corner, sending Shay Kelly the wrong way.
Rankin insisted he was so confident in McLeish scoring that he didn't even watch the equaliser. He added: "Liam is a good finisher and I didn't even need to look at the penalty. I've seen him do it all week so I knew it would be a goal. He rattles them in and he has all sorts of variety with his penalties so I didn't look - I knew it was a goal. It was important we put a marker down and played in a way I know we can play. We look organised out of position but in possession there is so much more to come to us."
