Jim Jefferies Post Arbroath

17/08/13: JJ - "It is a learning curve for the young boys and I could not fault them for the effort ...

MATCH PICTURES
Jim Jefferies was at a loss to know why Arbroath were awarded a penalty in 43rd minute of the game, a factor that turned out to have a great bearing on the outcome of the match:-

"You will have to ask the referee. I have seen balls played into the box, or edge of the box and headers to put the ball back in there. I think everybody in the ground was astounded that he gave it. He is the only possible person who could give it.

"I have watched it on the video time and time again and there is no way that was a penalty. If it was then we should have got one just at the end there when it was even more blatant. How you can give a penalty for one, and I am not saying that our one was a penalty, but if you give it for the first one you have to give it there as well.

"He has not had a good game today but having said that we got to 2-1 after starting sloppy. Callum Morris made an error in not clearing the ball and they finished it. Then we go and play some great, fantastic football, cut them open time and time again.

"Shaun Byrne should have had two goals before he scored. One I do not know how he missed. He could have taken a touch, put his hat on it and still put it away. Wee Josh chose the wrong option, I thought he should have shot, Wallace should have shot and it looked like if we could get the second, after we equalised, then we would go on and win it.

"At that point before the penalty I thought a fair reflection would have been 4-1 to us. The penalty just stunned us and they got another and fair credit to the boy, we were on the attack and they have broke and it was a wonder goal that has done it.

"I was still confident coming out for the second half. I told the players that if they played the way they did in the first half, cutting them open there was always going to be a chance to score two or three goals, not just get one. The first thing that we had to do was to try and get back to level terms early.

"The sending off played a part as well. Chris Kane dallied on the ball and when the boy took the ball off you the last thing you should do is tug him when you already are on a booking. The booking was unfair because he got booked at the penalty. You can defend him on the first one but it affects the game."

Jefferies revealed that he was just about to make a substitution that would have withdrawn Chris Kane when the midfielder picked up his second yellow:-

"I was going to put a forward player on because I felt if we had equalised early we would have gone on to win. The referee gave them a lifeline and they had something to hold on to. They broke a few times only because we were pushing them numbers forward to get an equaliser. With ten men you are always hoping that you will get away with a couple of chances. The goalkeeper saved us a couple of times which was great because they had some dangerous, experienced players upfront.

"It is a learning curve for the young boys and I could not fault them for the effort and the way they go about things. They caused their own problems today by starting sloppy and that cost them the lead. The other side of the coin is that we should have been well up before the penalty."

The Manager warned that given that Saturday's league game is important, he might need to use squad players in the Ramsden Cup tie on Tuesday night against Raith Rovers:-

"I want to win every game but there are players in the squad that sometimes need to be used so you might see one or two changes. There are not a lot of areas that we can change but there are one or two where we might look to do that. In the main it will be most of the team that played today. We might give one or two boys a rest to see if other ones can come in, because they will be needed during the season anyway.

"It will be a game that we want to win and probably the right game to come back and play at home. Raith have a lot of experienced players about them and are a strong side so it will be a good test for us."

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