Sour grapes maybe? Bitter ramblings? No…the performance of referee Iain Brines was that bad!
When you’re down at the bottom – or near the bottom in the Pars’ case – you need any slice of luck to go for you as opposed to against you. But no matter how much luck goes for or against you, you simply cannot legislate for the kind of inept and incompetent refereeing demonstrated by Mr Brines in this fixture. His failure to take any action over the continual blatant diving – courtesy of your friend and Ian McCall’s, Spanish forward Juanjo – and his failure to award any one of the two, maybe even three, stonewall penalty decisions for the home side was the perfect example as to the awful standard of officiating on offer in the SPL.
If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it! So with that philosophy in mind, Davie Hay saw fit to make two changes to the eleven which secured all three points at Tannadice last Saturday. The return of Greg Shields saw Irish left back Ritchie Byrne drop to the bench with the second change seeing Simon Donnelly – impressive in recent weeks – dropping to the bench at the expense of Billy Mehmet, Mehmet’s inclusion in attack dictating that Craig Brewster dropped into the supporting role behind the front two.
After a perfectly observed minute-silence for the four brave Blackwatch troops who recently lost their lives in the “Oil Conflict”…sorry, “Iraq Conflict”, the Pars started the match with the greater desire for an opener with Billy Mehmet striking a ferocious thirty-yard drive at Mark Brown’s goal in the 10th minute, the Caley keeper doing well to pad the effort away. Brewster and Tod (large and large) combined shortly after, Tod getting on the end of a neat Brewster cross, only to send his header flying over the bar.
The Pars were to suffer a massive blow in the 19th minute when Andrius Skerla had to be withdrawn from play after picking up an injury, Ritchie Byrne taking to the field in place of the Lithuanian – Ritchie taking up the left back slot with Scott Thomson moving to centre-half alongside Scott Wilson. A period of severe drabness was to follow with neither team creating many chances – something which would rear its head at many intervals throughout the ninety minutes – until the Pars opened the scoring in the 29th minute. After receiving a pass from Billy Mehmet twenty-five yards from goal, Darren YOUNG took a touch before firing a tremendous right-footed drive into the bottom right corner of Mark Brown’s net. That’s two in two for the midfielder, somewhat prolific in today’s current climate for the Pars!
The visitors could have equalised soon after thanks to yet another defensive cock-up in the Pars defence, this time courtesy of Ritchie Byrne and Scott Wilson – there seems to be more cock-ups in the Pars defence these days than a night at Will Young’s house! After a scene reminiscent of the Chuckle Brothers (To me, to you etc) Byrne and Wilson dithered and dithered before allowing Ritchie Hart to saunter through one-on-one with Derek Stillie. With the majority of the Pars fans preparing to launch a tirade of abuse at the Pars defence for losing such an error-strewn goal, Hart sent an unbelievable schlaff high and wide into the top of the Norrie McCathie stand.
The half-time break brought an absolutely cringe worthy (even more so than normal) Sammy the Tammy routine involving some kind of wedding garbage, although the less said about it the better! My half-time scan through the match programme also brought about another shock in the shape of a column written by a one Mr Colin Stevenson, columnist for this very website. Christ…it’ll be the Scotsport Executive Lounge next for this high flyer!
In the midst of a torrential downpour, the Pars came out for the second-half looking to add a second to kill the fixture off. Soon after half-time, a sweeping move down the right-hand side resulted in a Barry Nicholson drive being turned over the cross bar by Caley defender Ross Tokely. Ritchie Hart and Juanjo – going down like a sniper had hit him anytime a Pars player went near him – came close with long range efforts soon after. However the biggest talking point of the match was to arrive shortly before the hour mark after Iain Brines waved away an absolutely stone wall penalty. After a superb one-touch move, Craig Brewster managed to thread a tremendous ball through to Barry Nicholson before the midfielder took a touch to round Mark Brown, only for Brown to blatantly pull down the Pars player. With everyone in the ground expecting the referee to point to the spot, Brines waved away the appeals much to the amazement of every Pars player/supporter, and no doubt to the relief of everyone Caley connected. How a penalty was not awarded and Mark Brown was not sent off remains a mystery, one no doubt that ‘Scotsport SPL’s’ 45 second coverage of the match will fail to highlight in any great detail – ach…Brown was probably too scared to dive to the plastic and needed someone to give him a soft landing eh Mr Walker!
Anger would turn to heart-scare shortly after, with Derek Stillie taking about fifteen more touches than he needed to when dealing with a pass back, the keeper eventually managing to force a corner. The Pars were to be denied yet another stonewall penalty decision only minutes later when Barry Nicholson was, what seemed to be, bear hugged by Tokely in the Caley box in attempt to prevent Barry from managing to get contact on the ball, again the numpty in the black failed to point to the spot.
With the Pars sitting further and further back, inviting Caley to ‘have a go’ the visitors did just this with Russell Duncan forcing a good save from Stillie before the keeper had to be at his best to punch away an awkward effort under pressure form Caley striker Graham Bayne. With the Pars giving up the idea of going for a second to kill the game, you could sense that it was only a matter of time before the visitors got the all-important equaliser. Then, eleven minutes before the end, the inevitable happened and Caley substitute Liam FOX struck his second of the season after awful indecision in the Pars defence from a corner allowed the youngster a clear strike on goal. Roy McBain’s corner found its way to the Fox at the edge of the box, the youngster sending a fierce deflected drive into the corner of Stillie’s net.
With the minutes forever slipping away, a static Pars defence was once more caught out, almost fatally when Roy McBain almost turned goal scorer when his pacy effort sneaked just wide of Stillie’s left-hand post after finding acres of space in the Pars eighteen-yard box. A frantic finale was top follow with the Pars pressing desperately for a winner. After much confusion in the Caley box, Brewster managed to somehow turn and shoot despite being awkwardly off-balance only to see his shot creep agonisingly wide. When your luck’s out, your luck’s out! Then with, less than a minute remaining a high ball into the Caley box appeared to be padded away by the arm of a Caley defender, but why bother appealing…we all knew what the outcome would be!
For all you can moan and groan about the quality – in this case the lack of – from the referee, ultimately, as is always the case, there is sod all you or I can do about it. All we can do is hope and pray that Mr Brines isn’t asked to officiate another Pars match for a long, long time!
And so the spotlight must once again fall on the performance the Pars players, a performance which, in essence, was a three or four week backward step for the club, undoing a fair amount of the good work put in by the players over the last three games. No matter hoe the referee performs, the fact remains; if you can’t beat Caley Thistle, especially at home, then you simply don’t deserve to be in the top six, simple as! The Pars were up against a very poor side in Caley Thistle, a team intent on launching the ball into the clouds with every touch – although in saying that, the last few games or so would suggest that they must be doing something right. When the Pars sprayed the ball about, the Caley defenders looked lost and in a state of disarray.
Unfortunately however, crisp passing play appears more and more to have been consigned to the old regime, with the Pars, now more than ever, dependent on launching long ball after long ball at the opposition defence.
Although spirit and fight were never in doubt throughout the Pars side, the quality just was not there. Not one Pars player can be faulted for their effort or commitment, however the same simply cannot be said for the level of quality, with only Craig Brewster and Darren Young truly receiving pass marks for their performances. Brewster’s deployment in the supporting role appears to be an intelligent decision, with the veteran’s vision and composure from the deeper position sure to be an asset to a Pars side which, at times, lacks any real creative guile. Goal scorer Darren Young continues to grow into the kind of player that he has threatened to be, with his advanced midfield position – as opposed to the holding role – appearing to suit the ex-Aberdeen player all the better. The performance of Billy Mehmet before his ill-deserved substitution was at times encouraging with his first touch and build-up play, in particular, impressing. These players aside, the performance was just not good enough in what was a vital must-win game for the Pars in the search for the top six – a target which remains six points away.
As the attention turns to cup duty against John Robertson’s Jambos side this Wednesday, the thoughts and fears of a relegation battle move ever so slightly to the back of the mind for the time-being at least. Then, once the task of given the Jambos a right good doing is over, the league campaign beckons once again. Next up;
Man Of The Match – CRAIG BREWSTER – Just edging it over Darren Young thanks to his classy creative play.
PARS – Stillie 6, Shields 6, Thomson 7, Wilson 6, Skerla 5, (Byrne 19) 6, Nicholson 6, Mason 6, Darren Young 7, Brewster 7, Tod 6, (Derek Young 61) 5, Mehmet 6, (Donnelly 75) 5.