Raith Rovers boss Barry Robson blasts 'terrible' refereeing after Premier Sports Cup exit at St Johnstone
Raith Rovers manager Barry Robson has blasted the “terrible” refereeing decision which saw St Johnstone defender Morgan Boyes not even booked for what looked like a last man foul on Raith ace Dylan Easton early on in Tuesday night’s Premier Sports Cup Group F encounter at McDiarmid Park.
After receiving a Paul McMullan pass, Easton appeared to be wiped out by the Saints stopper, but nothing was given by whistler Greg Soutar and the subsequent 3-1 win for the hosts saw Raith – who endured their second consecutive group defeat following last week’s 4-2 home reverse against East Kilbride - eliminated from the tournament.
Gaffer Robson told Raith TV post match: “You do need things to go for you. I think in the East Kilbride game, the referee makes a terrible decision. It's a really terrible decision.
"And then tonight, we're drawing 0-0. We're actually quite good in the game in the first 20 minutes. We're picking them off. We're doing things well.
"And the referee makes another terrible decision. You can’t get these decisions wrong.
"That’s a penalty for us and a man sent off. And the game's totally different. And then after that, I think they got a bit of a lift.”
After their decent start in Perth, Raith went behind when their former striker Jamie Gullan – who had five separate playing spells in Kirkcaldy – half volleyed home with his left foot after a pass forward by Reece McAlear, who had dispossessed McMullan.
It was 2-0 on 51 minutes when Josh McPake netted from an Adama Sidibeh pass, but Rovers pulled one back within six minutes when Jack Hamilton – just on as a sub for Lewis Vaughan – converted a Jai Rowe cross from the right.
Raith pressure followed but they couldn’t convert and the hosts sealed their win on 80 minutes when Makenzie Kirk – son of Raith assistant manager Andy Kirk – shot under Josh Rae after a Sidibe flick on.
Robson, who also hit out at the “ridiculous” decision not to award Raith a second half penalty for an apparent handball by Saints’ Fran Franczak, added: “I think if you watch that whole game, they had three chances, three goals. I don’t think Josh had another save to make.
"And I think if you see our chances, we were trying to have a go at them, more set plays. We looked in the ascendancy.
"I thought the subs came on and made a real big difference to us. At that point, I thought we were going to equalise and win this.
"And when we really started pushing, they exposed us at the back because we were going all out for it.
"But we seemed to have been punished for every single thing over the last couple of games. And we need to be better at that. That's what I said to the players.
"I thought they (St Johnstone) were dead on their feet and that's why we were running over the top of them at the end there.”
St Johnstone: Steward, Steven (Baird 67), Boyes, Diabate, Franczak, Mallan (Kirk 58), Holt, McAlear, McPake (Bright 67), Gullan (Sprangler 69), Sidibeh.
Subs not used: Ikpeazu, Sinclair, Stanton, Svedberg, Tumilty.
Raith Rovers: Rae, Stevenson (Gibson 78), Hanlon, Fordyce, Doherty, Easton (Montagu 56), Matthews (Mullin 78), Brown, Rowe (Chin 77), Vaughan (Hamilton 56), McMullan.
Subs not used: Byrne, Glavin, Hannah, Raeside.
Referee: Greg Soutar
Raith, who are currently fourth in their league cup section with three points from three matches, end their Group F campaign at home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle this Saturday in a 3pm kick-off.