Managers Post Morton

20/10/12: Neither Jim Jefferies nor Allan Moore happy with referee's decisions

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Jim Jefferies felt that leaving it late in games was not good for his heart. Speaking post match he said:-

"It was a very hard fought match. They were well organised and strong at the back. They made it very difficult for our forwards today. We had a couple of great chances in the first half: one fantastic move that fell to Ryan Thomson in the box - if there was anybody you'd want it to fall to in the box, the way he has been scoring goals he'd be the one but he just didn't catch it and sclaffed it past the post. It would have been a fantastic footballing goal."

"Their front two have scored a lot of goals this year, they were always going to be dangerous in and about that end. We were a bit disappointed to come in 1-0 down but we were still trying to play and still trying to pass it. We were a bit off the pace but we have been training a lot this week on astro pitches because the pitches have been under water. That takes its toll on the legs and I thought one or two didn't look as sharp as they have been.

"Having said that we probably dominated the second half. They were always hoping that they could hit us on the break but the one area that we talked about before the game - corners, because they have some big guys - Martin Hardie got a header down and it fell for the boy (Archie Campbell) right and we were 2-0 down. At that stage you were thinking could it be done twice on the trot?"

The Manager was still puzzled about the one that was disallowed.

"I have just had a word with the referee about it. It is alright getting a penalty at 2-1 but the goal that was chalked off would have made it 1-1. After it went 2-1 we got a fantastic equalising goal from our point of view. It was a good flowing move, a good ball in behind, a great delivery from Andy Kirk and header from Ryan Wallace.

"Over the 90 minutes probably a 2-2 draw was fair although I thought we had the bulk of possession. Credit to Morton though they made it very awkward; they were well organised with experience in there at the back that helped them through it."

The disallowed 'goal' was the subject of the question that the Pars gaffer had asked referee Craig Charleston:-

"He says that Andy Kirk was too close to the keeper.  When the ball was played in we put somebody in front of the goalkeeper, which you see a thousand times. We do that, its the idea of the game to distract him. When the ball is knocked down there I am looking for my striker to be in front, try and turn the boy and get away. He said 'yeah but he was too close to him. The boys were a bit aggrieved with that and they went up the park and made it 2-0. It was a bit of injustice."

Jim had no question over the penalty that was awarded to Dunfermline:-

"It was handball from a good header in. The boy stopped it with his hand and the referee saw it and booked him; a definite penalty and that gave us that wee bit of a spur to go on and say can we do it again? When you have done it one week you have the confidence to go and do it. It was a fantastic equalising goal because over the 90 minutes we were the team that were trying to probe. Although we didn't work their goalkeeper, they didn't really work ours very much either. They were very resilient, very strong and took their chances when they came."

The offside decision at a pass back made Dunfermline annoyed as well, the Manager continued:-

"He turned round and told us that it was a new rule that we have not been told about. Husband was in an offside position, but winning ricochets off a defender had us and everybody in the ground screaming about it. He said that it was a new rule. but I said nobody told us. I thought that was a bit harsh to book Ryan Wallace.  Even I was angry at the linesman and he never booked me. The reason that we were angry was because we didn't know the rule.

"Seemingly there is a referee's meeting tomorrow. That's one thing that I will be asking Gerry when he goes to try and clarify the situation. If that is the true thing - if a boy is in an offside position and it comes off a defender to somebody in an offside position, that is like saying if our centre half gives it back to the goalkeeper and gives it straight to an attacker, how is that not offside? It is the same thing. It is strange, we ended up getting a player booked because he was raging at him as well.

"Morton certainly took their chances and made it difficult for us but I thought we kept pushing and probing. We changed the system with 25 to half an hour to go - we put Josh Falkingham and Wallace wide. We went 4-2-4 and the four people who were on up front were all attacking players. We went for it and that probably got us the draw at the end of the day."

Morton manager, Allan Moore claimed to be "absolutely gutted" to have lost control of a match in which he felts his team was cruising.  As far as he was concerned it was two points dropped by Morton and one gained by Dunfermline:-

"We got a bad decision against us that led to their corner. It was a big decision in the game that I felt was wrong. Certainly my defender thought it was wrong because nobody touched the ball coming across and the referee gave a corner. From that corner they got a penalty that got them back in the game.

"Up until then our keeper didn't really have any saves to make. It wasn't pretty from both teams - they had a lot of pressure which you expect at home. We didn't get the ball down and pass it as well in the second half as we did in the first.

"2-0 is a precarious lead, you have to get that third one because as soon as they get that one back it is difficult. It gave them momentum.

"Dunfermline had been passing the ball about for fun like Thistle did but never got anywhere. They did not have a shot on target, didn't give big Gas many saves to make. All of a sudden they got a goal back out of nothing. Then they are back in the game.

"The second one is the one that myself, Mark and the players are raging with. We had good possession up the pitch and it was a negative pass."

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