East Kilbride Thistle 'get apology' from ropey ref after wrong red card leads to Barry Russell in goal

East Kilbride Thistle boss Garry O’Hanlon says referee Scott Douglas apologised for wrongly red carding his goalkeeper in a 1-0 defeat at Vale of Clyde.

Iain Stewart had replaced injured Kieran Bell at the interval of the West of Scotland League Third Division clash.

But 10-15 minutes into the half, he was sent off for ‘handling the ball outside of his area’ – despite there being a ball-mark on his orange shorts, where it had connected with his thigh.

Disappointed O’Hanlon demanded an explanation over the dismissal and says the whistler held his hands up over his mistake.

But despite the loss, and ending the game with Barry Russell in goal, O’Hanlon reckons the performance could be a turning point on his side’s sticky start to their league campaign, with just one win in seven attempts.

He said: “We got our goalie sent off early in the second half, and the referee then said he had made a mistake in doing that.

“It had a bit of an impact on the game!

“I was pretty calm. I went in and spoke to him after the game.

“Iain Stewart had started on the bench but my goalkeeper had got injured and I had to swap them at half-time.

“Iain has ran out, controlled it with his thigh, but the referee said it was his hand, so I went in and asked for an explanation after the game.

“He said ‘I’ve made a mistake’ and it wasn’t a handball, so he’s put his hand up, and you can’t ask for anything other than that.

“You can’t change it, it’s done. It’s not as if you can make anything of it, so I said it was decent of him to admit it.”

Thistle had shipped 18 goals in their previous three games with an 8-1 Junior Cup exit to Glenafton last week following on from 6-1 and 4-1 thrashings in the league at the hands of Larkhall Thistle and Lanark United,