Peterhead manager Jim McInally has defended his decision to bring on goalkeeper Brett Long outfield in their midweek SPFL Trust Trophy tie.
The Blue Toon were short on players for Wednesday’s game against Dundee B, due to the Dark Blues opting to play the three players – Lyall Cameron, Josh Mulligan and Danny Strachan – currently on loan at Balmoor.
Simon Ferry was named on the bench but is injured himself with an achilles problem, meaning Long was the only available option when Derryn Kesson tweaked his hamstring in the closing stages.
McInally and Peterhead were already unhappy about the loan players being used against them, despite asking for them not to be played. The game had also been moved from Tuesday night to Wednesday and to Forfar, against the League One club’s wishes.
McInally said: “We’d already left Derryn for five minutes and had the game been on Tuesday, we would have seen it out with 10 men. But I wasn’t prepared to do that because they’re a full-time team and it wasn’t as if they were going to tire.
“If people at the SPFL think it’s disrespectful or we’ve treated the competition with contempt then I couldn’t care less, because they’ve treated us with contempt.
“I don’t care what people think – I only care about our club. I’ll do anything to protect our club.
“We did everything properly. He was stripped as an outfield player. I don’t see why we’d get anything back on it.”
Cameron also picked up an injury in the game and will now miss today’s trip to Montrose.
Peterhead won the game 2-1 thanks to a double from Niah Payne to earn a second round tie with East Fife on September 4. They will be without Cameron, Mulligan and Strachan, who are now cup-tied.
McInally also has concerns about the substitution rule this season, which sees clubs in League One return to the old system of being able to use three replacements rather than five.
League Two remains the only division where five substitutes can be used.
The Peterhead boss added: “I’ve seen Steven Gerrard complaining about it. I can understand teams in the Premiership don’t want Celtic or Rangers to bring five subs on but at our level, it could be harmful.
“There seem to be a lot more injuries at the minute for some reason. You need to keep everybody involved and make it worthwhile but you can’t do that.”
The Blue Toon head to Montrose today in League One action, a week after going down 2-1 at Falkirk.
McInally said: “Montrose have been outstanding the last two or three years. There was the year they beat us to the league (League Two, 2019) which was a great tussle as well.
“We know it’s going to be tough but we’re looking forward to it.”
Ferry is likely to be out for today’s game along with Kesson, with Gary Fraser (knee) and Alan Cook (shin) still injured.