Elgin City manager Gavin Price revealed he’s raised concerns with the Scottish FA over inconsistent penalty decisions he feels is working unfairly against his League 2 side.
Last weekend, following three successive league draws, they were edged out 2-1 by league leaders Dumbarton after two Ally Love penalties early in the second half wiped out Kane Hester’s opener.
Having viewed the spot-kick incidents back, he feels the decisions made by referee Duncan Williams left his men floored in a game they’d performed so well in.
The first one for what was deemed an illegal Lewis Nicolson challenge on Gregor Buchanan, while the second was given when Aron Lynas went down when put under pressure by Jevan Anderson.
The Sons, who set a club record by winning their opening five fixtures, were also unhappy that Hester’s goal stood, claiming the ball went out of play in the build-up.
Elgin, who are propping up the division on three points, will hope for a better afternoon all round when they host second-placed Bonnyrigg Rose, the Lowland League champions, this Saturday.
Side need to learn from experiences
Price, who signed former ICT and Ross County star Ross Draper on Thursday, feels he needed to fight his corner about the key spot-kicks, although he accepts his players must also learn from these sour experiences.
He said: “I’m not worried in terms of our performances at the minute and last Saturday we were the better team for a large part of the game.
“I think the penalties given against us, without absolving ourselves completely of blame, were extremely soft to say the least.
“I feel, at times, Elgin City are quite an easy touch in games in the Central Belt. It happened last season, where we went through a spate of four games where penalties were given against us early on in games and a lot of them were not, on reflection, penalty kicks.
“The first one which was given (on Saturday) was at a crucial stage when we were trying to withstand a bit of early pressure at the start of the second half, but it had a massive bearing on the result.
“We feel as if we’re up against it a bit and we have to be motivated by that. We just cannot give referees decisions to make and we have to be better organised.
“Having looked back at it, I was annoyed at the decisions. I have made my feelings known to the SFA about it because, at the end of the day, it’s costly.
“They were good enough to speak to me about it, but I just feel we’re easy touches at times for officials.
“Of course, sometimes things go for you, sometimes they go against you. But I feel I do have to protect the club a wee bit.”
Tomorrow we take on Bonnyrigg Rose in Cinch League 2.
Don’t forget we are showing the old firm in all our bars so come down and watch with us. 🍻
📺- Streaming is available for supporters out with UK & Ireland on https://t.co/ZJJdqFs4Z7
⚫️⚪️ pic.twitter.com/GQdik6hTWF
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) September 2, 2022
City must win from winning positions
Ahead of their home clash with Bonnyrigg, Price wants his players to be switched on from the first to last whistle in order to try and land their first league win of the season.
He said: “I have had Bonnyrigg watched and they will be tough opponents. They bring a freshness to the league and they have a winning mentality from coming up last season.
“But, if we play like we have been playing, but be a bit more ruthless, switched-on and vocal defensively, this is certainly a fixture we can win.
“We have to be at our A game going forward and we certainly have to be at it going forward and be a lot better defensively for 90 minutes. We were good for 80 minutes defensively on Saturday, but that’s not enough.
“We’ve been ahead in four games already this season and we’ve got to be able to win from these situations. It’s frustrating for the players and for me in terms of where we could be in the league.”
2 penalties in 2 minutes and Dumbarton lead 2-1 pic.twitter.com/c6TTMMWvph
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) August 27, 2022
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