Shotts boss John McKeown tore a strip off a referee for allowing a ‘phantom goal’ equaliser in their 2-2 draw with Maryhill on Saturday.
McKeown also says his players must regain their edge ahead of Saturday’s West of Scotland Cup third round clash at home to Premier League title-chasers Darvel.
But he says a second-placed finish in Conference A is a great result after having their budget slashed massively in the summer.
McKeown admits he was left “baffled” by “bonkers” decisions on Saturday, which included allowing a ‘phantom’ goal and denying them a ‘stonewall’ penalty.
He said: “A 2-2 draw was not a fair reflection on the game!
“We dominated the game, had most of the chances, and even their manager couldn’t believe that their equaliser was given.
“The boy hit the bar, it bounces out the way and we clear it, but the referee, for some reason, judges it to have been over the line.
“I think everybody in the whole stadium was baffled by it. We’re starting to get used to these kinds of decisions, but it’s bonkers.
“He then goes on to deny us one of the most stonewall penalties I’ve ever seen in my life as well.
“We had a header at goal, it’s going in, and one of their boys punches it away off the line!
“There was another penalty as well, which was baffling, but I don’t want to go on about referees.
“It’s something that is easy to do, though, and I understand why players get frustrated.”
McKeown’s side are guaranteed to finish second in Conference A, but can’t bid for the title, and the Shotts boss says that’s just as well.
“If we had something riding on that we would have been absolutely sick,” he said. “It was just baffling.
“There have been a couple of occasions this season where I’ve thought ‘wow, that was incredible’ but that was right up there with one of the strangest decisions I’ve ever seen, for the goal.
“A phantom goal, I couldn’t believe it.”
One positive from the game was a debut for 16-year-old Ethan Smith.
McKeown now turns his attentions to Darvel, and knows his side are up against it, but having gone close against Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Junior Cup quarter-finals, the Shotts boss has hope.
He said: “It’s probably as tough as you can get.
“We played Auchinleck and gave a good account of ourselves and were unfortunate, so hopefully we can put in a similar performance against Darvel.
“However, our form since then has been pretty poor. There are a lot of factors there, with games being kind of meaningless, and maybe the edge has been taken off of our game, so hopefully the boys can raise it.
“They’ll need to, because Darvel are probably one of the best in the country at the moment, so we’ll need to be up for it.”
Shotts have two games left in the league, and McKeown says he’s relatively happy with their season.
He said: “I said at the start of the season that we had massively reduced our budget and lost a lot of players due to the season out with Covid, so I think to have been competing up until the start of April was probably a success.
“When you get to that stage you want to win it, but Arthurlie were relentless and deserved champions, so we need to just accept that.
“It has been a good season, getting to the quarters of The Scottish as well, so the boys can be proud of what they’ve done.
“But we want to go a stage further next season and keep progressing.”
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