Penalty that never was

Kallum Higginbotham:- "he pointed to the penalty spot and for whatever reason he changed his mind ....

Kallum Higginbotham had placed the ball down ready to take a penalty in Saturday`s game against St Mirren when the match officials made a dramatic change of mind and awarded St Mirren a free kick instead. Kallum had calmed down by the time he spoke to the media:-

"It is difficult for the referee and the linesman at the best of times. What we are disappointed in is that he pointed to the penalty spot and for whatever reason he changed his mind. That is what we are more frustrated about it.

"Not giving the penalty is the referee`s decision. He is the main man in the middle, that`s what his job is albeit he needs help from the linesman. I heard the linesman clearly shouting `penalty, penalty`."

Kallum speculated that the referee pointed to the spot but changed his mind through the St Mirren players running over to him:-

"They have to stay strong for me, whether it is a penalty or whether it is not a penalty, whether he has dived or he has not dived. He gave the penalty and first reaction is that it should stand.

In the tunnel the linesman said that he changed his mind for simulation. Kallum explained:-

"He said `I am allowed to change my mind`. I am not going to get into a debate over him because you can find yourself with a ban. You would have to ask them for their side of it. I can`t tell you why they changed their minds.

"The game wasn`t lost on just that decision, we have had a few chances - Williamson in the first half, you have to score - and then a few half chances. On another day we would have scored a couple goals.

"We are disappointed because we thought we came here, played well and a draw would have been a fair result for both teams.

"We are on a bad run of form at the minute and it is a sombre dressing room. A few of the boys have their heads down. It is not what I want, it is not what the team wants. At the beginning of the season we were all buzzing but for whatever reason it has turned at the minute.

"Every team in this league can beat everyone. You saw St Mirren against Brechin last week eventually getting a hard fought 2-1 victory. We know that is not going to be an easy game next Saturday but we will approach the game like we approach every game wanting the three points. Especially since we are at home, we owe own fans a good performance for last week. Hopefully we can do that next week."

Kallum felt that there were grounds for optimism and positives to take from the defeat at the Paisley 2021 Stadium:-

"If we just look at ourselves, it is night and day from the performance that we put in last week n terms of energy and commitment. Ultimately we are still losing games and we need to turn that around quickly because there is a big gap now starting to form between a few of us in mid table and the top two. The sooner we get back to winning ways the better but if we keep playing like that then I don`t think the wins will be too far away."

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