Fort William Manager McNeil Has No Referee Complaints And Wants His Players To Behave. | |
10 July 2009 Fort William manager Drew McNeil has no complaints over how referee Colin MacDonald handled his sides MacPhee & Partners Macaulay Cup defeat to local rivals Lochaber on Saturday 4 July 2009 but he has demanded better behaviour from his players. A total of 6 players – 3 from each side – were sent of in the tie as a Martin Johnston goal sealed a 2-1 win at An Aird to take the less fancied Lochaber into the semi finals. Chris Bamber, John MacDonald and Duncan Rodger saw red for Speaking in this week’s Lochaber News, McNeil said: "I have no complaints about the referee on Saturday because he refereed by the letter of the law. There was not a nasty challenge in the game, but some players showed a wee bit of petulance and one or two were squaring up to one another, so technically the red card decisions were right. "I actually told the referee afterwards that I thought he had a good game. Speaking for my players, they know how they should behave on the field and it didn't happen. I won't stand for it because they know what is expected of them. They have apologised, but they have let their team-mates and the club down. We had a real chance of going on to win this trophy and the team who were out should have beaten Lochaber, but we're out of the competition and we have to face up to that.” Both sides will have to think hard about their line ups as they meet again at An Aird on Saturday 11 July 2009 in Scottish Hydro Premier Division action. McNeil said "The second team has a semi-final, but I will have to call for a few of their boys to step up. The fact is that the first-team needs 2 points to stay top of the Premier League and I don't care how we get them. "Jim Clark came in for the second team and, although playing for a short time against younger lads, still scored a hat-trick. He'll come back into the first-team this weekend. For years, our side has been build around Jim's strengths and weaknesses, so to have been without him for so long has been a real blow." |