Kilwinning Rangers 1, Shotts 1: Shotts boss baffled by ref inconsistencies in battling draw

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Shotts boss John McKeown was left baffled by referee Scott McGregor, who issued multiple bookings and a red card in a 1-1 draw at Kilwinning Rangers with barely a foul committed.And McKeown was annoyed by inconsistencies, where the whistler failed to book a Rangers player for an identical foul that saw Josh Gracie sent off in the West of Scotland First Division clash.But he was pleased to get his season back on track with a point at a tricky venue following a 3-0 defeat at home to Rutherglen Glencairn in midweek.McKeown said: “On Saturday I felt the referee had a massive influence on the game, I think he booked something like eight players and there wasn’t a bad tackle amongst them, and somebody got sent off.“Any tackle made, he was dishing out cards, and we were playing a very experienced Kilwinning side who have spent a lot of money, but I thought our kids were brilliant to battle back with 10 men in the second half and score late on – they did us proud.

If we had kept 11 players on the park I think we would have won the game.“I don’t think my goalie has had one save to make in the whole game, while theirs produced a great save at the top corner, we’ve missed a one-on-one.“The problem we had was that the referee booked three of my players in the first 15 minutes for their first tackles, which meant you had boys walking a tightrope.“It was just a baffling performance by the referee, who was card-happy, but I know he had a supervisor there, so I hope that’s taken care of and reported properly.“But to dominate the game in the second half with 10 men and come away with a point, sometimes you’ve just got to say ‘it’s been a hard schedule, we’ll take that’ and have bounced hack from the defeat, so I’m relatively happy.”McKeo