Callum Davidson took a fresh swipe at Bobby Madden last night as he demanded the whistler takes a leaf out of other referees ' book.
The St Johnstone boss is preparing his side for a do-or-die play-off final against Inverness this evening with their Premiership status firmly on the line.
But Davidson is still fuming from Friday’s first leg 2-2 draw in which he’s adamant Madden should have stopped the game for a head knock to Jamie McCart in the build up to Inverness’ first goal as Caley Thistle fought back from 2-0 down.
He also reckons Austin Samuels was offside before Reece McAlear fired home.
His frustration escalated on Saturday when he saw Willie Collum halt play in the Scottish Cup Final for a similar incident involving Hearts’ Nathaniel Atkinson.
With tonight’s Perth clash on a knife-edge Davidson, who claims his side have had to “play against the refs” at times this season, is hoping for a strong performance from Nick Walsh.
And he said: “I watched the Rangers game against Hearts and Atkinson got a head knock when Rangers were attacking and the game stopped - that made what happened on Friday worse.
“You get frustrated on the sidelines but it was a head knock and I’m sure the rules say a head knock, especially with both players down, it should be stopped.
“But the referee let the game go on and they scored and the boy was offside.
“It does infuriate you as it can be the turning point. It hasn’t ruined the tie but it would have put us in a stronger position.
“If it is one mistake then you can go ‘OK’. But two blatant ones..
“It’s about consistency. If I didn’t see the cup final on Saturday I probably wouldn’t be so mad.
“I let it go and then watched the game and saw the game stopped for a head knock.
“Bobby obviously doesn’t stop games for head knocks, it must be how he refs the games.
“Maybe he needs to look at how each referee takes charge of each game to make sure we know what goes on.
“We know we are having to sometimes play against the refs.
“We know where we are and what we have to do..
“You take stock and we need to play with the enthusiasm and energy we started with and if we can do that for 90 minutes, then I believe we will get the result.”
Davidson admits being relegated from the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers 23 years ago remains the lowest point of his football career.
Now he’s stressing to his Saints stars not to outdo it by taking the plunge out of the Premiership.
Saints have no fresh injury concerns and could have Theo Bair back for the crunch tie.
Davidson said: “Was being relegated with Blackburn my worst moment in football? Probably. Or injuries.
“At Blackburn we had to beat Manchester United which was quite a hard task.
“But I always believe if you give it everything you’ve got, if you try your best, you can hold your head up high.
“Sometimes when you are struggling you can get too emotional with it all. You need to have a clear head and a clear picture of what you want to do.
“You can’t get too caught up in the game, in the occasion and what’s going to happen.
“You just have to focus on what’s in front of you and it’s 90 minutes of football against 11 other players.
“People saw how we played under pressure in Inverness on Friday night. That’s basically what I asked ask for.
“We believe we can win the tie. That’s the most important thing.
“They’ve seen a couple of bad decisions go against us.
“There’s that little bit of: ‘I tell you what, we’ve had a few unfair decisions but let’s use it as a positive. Let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again’.”
