Albion Rovers boss Brian Reid was left ruing Blair Malcolm’s sitter in their draw with Dumbarton as he refused to criticise the officials for failing to award a goal during a goalmouth scramble.
The Cliftonhill side drew 1-1 with Sons on Saturday after Charlie Reilly’s sixth minute opener was cancelled out by Stuart Carswell’s penalty after 20 minutes.
However, approaching half-time Malcolm looked set to burst the net when the ball broke to him six yards out, only for the midfielder’s effort to be blocked on the line by the bodies of two Dumbarton players, before the rebound was fired straight at the goalkeeper from even closer range.
It is unclear if the ball crossed the line on either occasion but baffled boss Reid insisted the officials shouldn’t have had a decision to make.
Reid, whose side remain bottom of League Two and a point adrift of Annan Athletic, said: “On paper a point against Dumbarton, who are right up at the top of the league, looks like a decent result but it was one of those games where we could well have won it.
“A draw is probably a fair result looking back at the full picture.
“But we created the better chances and we’ve got to score one of our chances, which is six yards out with the goalie out of the game and two players lying on the goal line.
“That has got to be a goal for us. It was harder to miss.
“There’s a scramble on the line and apparently there was a handball and the ball was over the line, but we shouldn’t be giving the referee or his assistant a decision to make – that should have been blasted into the net.
“If we score that, we go in 2-1 up at half-time and it is a different game.
“For most parts we defended okay and dealt with Dumbarton, who are a big physical team, putting balls into the box. But we were careless in front of goal again and we need to get a striker in who is going to put the ball in the net for us.
“All the players need to take responsibility. Charlie [Reilly] is scoring goals for us nearly every week but we can’t just rely on one guy, you need others to chip in and that’s what we are looking for.
“We created a few chances that on another day we take, but we just need to dust ourselves down for the next game.”
Reid also had no complaints with the penalty after Kalvin Orsi was tripped in the box.
He added: “We lost a soft penalty from a long throw in. We don’t deal with it properly, stick a lazy leg out and you can’t do that in the box.
“We’ve done that a few times this season so it was a poor one to lose.”
Last midweek, Rovers were beaten 1-0 away to Elgin City and Reid said: “It’s game we should have taken a point from. We were the better team for 70 minutes of the game but if you don’t take your chances and put the ball in the net when you are on top, you are liable to lose to a sucker punch.”
“But credit to the players for going again on Saturday.”
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