CallumPar

But it’s not. Every week, all over the world, officials in each game referee games differently. Particularly when it comes to pushes/contact between players. They usually ‘set the standard’ early on. Before that incident and afterwards, the referee deemed similar levels of contact to not be enough for a foul throughout the game. The way he refereed similar incidents throughout the rest of the game is 100% relevant to the discussion here. If it’s not enough contact to be deemed a foul in another scenario in the same match, it’s not enough to disallow a goal. Gavin Duncan is an absolutely terrible referee and I’m sure it’s not a surprise to anyone that he’s a big talking point after the game. But the penalty/red card is the only big decision that went in our favour. Despite what the Airdrie fans are bizarrely claiming. Based on the way he refereed the game, it is a controversial decision to disallow Wighton’s goal. It’s also a very poor decision to give a free kick for the keeper handling it outside the box and not give him a second yellow for it. His speed/momentum carried him out of the box with the ball in his hands, if he hadn’t been going at that speed, Wighton could have got to the ball ahead of him. It’s nobody’s fault but Rae’s that he had the ball in his hands outside of the box and there’s no doubt he deliberately had the ball in his hands. Deliberate handball is a yellow card.

Funny you say that. Did you watch the highlights? There are 2 or 3 clearer pushes in the middle of the park from Airdrie defenders, that are shown in the highlights, that weren’t deemed fouls. If you’re not going to give fouls for similar challenges in the middle of the park, you can’t be disallowing goals for it. Simple as that. When you add in Rae’s handball and lack of a second yellow, it’s hard to take anyone seriously when they’re trying to argue Airdrie were hard done by with refereeing decisions yesterday.

But his intent was to prevent Wighton getting a goal scoring opportunity. You understand that, yes? Or did he just knock it away with his hands for a laugh?

Smith deliberately pushed it out of the path of a striker, who was trying to get to the ball in the middle of the goal about 7 yards out. If he didn’t think Wighton had a chance of getting to that and scoring, he wouldn’t have done it. The intention was obviously to prevent Wighton scoring. Are you seriously trying to argue otherwise?

Denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity. Wighton had the ball/was running onto the ball in the middle of the goal 7/8 yards out when Smith used his hands to push it away from him. Easy decision. I honestly don’t know how you can’t understand that. edit to add - the yellow card for deliberate handball is more relevant for when your keeper handled it outside the box. That should have been a (second) yellow.

We collapsed after the disallowed goal. Thought Airdrie had a lot of the ball, but we’d had all of the chances until they took the lead. After the first goal though, we couldn’t have argued if we’d been 3/4-0 down at HT. We just fell apart and they looked very good. We started brightly after HT. McCann had a great effort from distance that the keeper got his fingertips to. Then we lost another soft goal on a counterattack. Thought we might crumble again, but the team stuck in and deservedly won in the end. I’ll be honest. I thought bringing Mahon on ahead of Mochrie/KRH was the wrong decision. But he played very well and completely proved me wrong. McPake has a very good habit of getting it right, even when it seems strange to us mere mortals. Matty Todd is the best midfielder in this division, there is no doubt about it. What a player he’s turning into.

Did you seriously write this after seeing the footage back? Stonewall penalty and red card. You see him on the ground deliberately punching the ball away from Wighton’s feet ffs. Complete and utter stupidity at 3-0 up. At least the other Airdrie fans that have watched it back seem to be pretty honest about it.

Would agree. Hamilton and Chalmers lost the ball cheaply and were being outfought. The way we gave up the ball for the second goal was embarrassing. Interesting that McPake said the subs were planned before that though. Very uncharacteristic performance from Hamilton - his early yellow probably played a part in it being a double sub. Chalmers didn’t get the space/time he’s used to and really struggled. Thought Otoo did alright in midfield in terms of breaking up play in the remainder of the first half and grew into the game. Second half, he was winning every challenge and his ability on the ball was excellent. Moved to CB for most of it, as Airdrie were sitting so deep and we obviously wanted him to drive the team forward from CB.

Just listened to McCabe’s interview on Twitter. Can’t question his claim that Airdrie should have gone on to win 4 or 5-0. First half, we were probably lucky it was only 2-0. Thought we started the second half strong and McCann had a great shot that the keeper tipped over brilliantly, but Airdrie scored again and it looked like it could be as many as they wanted it to be. He’s right to question/criticise mentality of players as well. Issue he has, is two of the players who showed that poor attitude/mentality in the last half hour were him and his assistant. Interesting that he bemoans the number of crosses we got to put in and the space given to our wide men. None of the first 3 goals came from crosses/balls into the box. The winner was a cross from Wighton, who had drifted wide. Also critical of his midfielders not doing enough. Does that not include himself? Next week will be interesting and a big test of mentality for both teams. If Airdrie play like they did for the first hour, they’ll be very very hard to beat. But I’d hope that our defence and midfield are nowhere near as bad as they were first half today.

Trying to take a step back and look at what happened there. If I was an Airdrie fan, I’d seriously question the manager. We scored a penalty to make it 3-1 with 30 mins left. The body language suggested Airdrie had lost all hope. Every Airdrie player’s head went down. There seemed to be no leadership on the park for Airdrie. Nobody picking players up, reminding them they were still 2 goals up. Obviously you completely imploded and conceded 3 more. How can a team have no leadership on the park, when their manager and assistant manager are on the park?

Airdrie were deservedly 3-0 up. We had been shocking up to that point. What was Smith doing though, 3-0 up mentality should be “don’t do anything stupid” and he threw his team under the bus. An attacker getting sent off shouldn’t cause your defence to implode like that. Credit to Pars players. The mentality to win that and keep driving on. That was fantastic in the away end. The scenes were mad. Also, get it right up Gavin Duncan. Still no idea why he disallowed Wighton’s goal, or didn’t give the Airdrie keeper his second yellow for a handball outside the box.

Don’t be ridiculous. Wighton is obviously going to score too, so 4-0 seems more likely.

Good news. Hopefully the guy comes in and does well. Really pleased that it’s someone who can cover LB too. On paper, sounds like some very good business for us. edit - do Celtic B not play their home games at Airdrie? Should know the pitch well, if so.

I see we’re in the east stand - is that opposite the home fans, rather than sharing the stand?

Same here. Not sure how Breen is, but there’s no way he’ll be 100% after being stretchered off last week. Also not convinced by Comrie as a longer term option in the back 3. To be honest, I’m not totally sure how we’ll set up. Airdrie have some decent attacking players and Clyde exploited space behind the wing backs, so would imagine Airdrie will be able to do that more effectively. Back 4 might be a ‘safer’ option this week.

Need to make the most of the Falkirk result tonight.

Not sure what to expect of Airdrie. They played well first half at East End. But that was so long ago now. They seem to score goals, but concede a lot too. Feels like it could be the kind of game that, if we score an early goal we could blow them away. If we don’t score, every chance they get a goal or two, then we’re left chasing the game again. Closer look at results shows that Airdrie have 7 clean sheets in their 12 home games, so maybe not conceding as freely as I first though, but still conceded 11 in 2 home games v FC Edinburgh! We have 8 clean sheets in our 12 away games, other than Montrose our away form has been very good. If Airdrie come out to attack, as I expect they will, it could play into our hands. Could be a good game for Mochrie, if there’s going to be space in that final third.

I think the ‘weirdness’ in this thread is trying to say we’re a “big strong side”. If you honestly think that, I can confidently say that you know absolutely nothing about our squad, or how we play. We’re a well organised side and have kept it tight at the back. But we lack physicality, outside of our 2 CBs and McCann/Todorov (who rarely play). Airdrie had MacDonald and Edwards before, did they make you a big strong side? Is it 5’4 Chris Hamilton that’s big and strong? Or will it be Chris Mochrie? Im going to be honest. I’d rather be ‘inspired’ by watching my team keep 13 clean sheets in 22 games, leading the league by 5 points. Airdrie have conceded 14 goals in 3 games against FC Edinburgh. We’ve conceded 12 goals in our 22 league games and you’re trying to say you’re more ‘inspiring’ to watch?

Honestly think you’ll be looking at around 700-800 Pars fans. Seem to have a core away support of around that number. Doesn’t seem to be a great deal of enthusiasm amongst our wider fanbase. I’ve enjoyed watching the team this season, but it seems like some of our fans expected us to dominate every week - which is unrealistic in this division. It’s more competitive and the standard of players are better than they were in 2015-16. We’re winning most weeks, we’re well organised and battling hard. I just like seeing us win, regardless of performance. Next 2 games will be a good test for us. Airdrie played well at East End. Looking at results, it seems like Airdrie have a lot of attacking threat, but are vulnerable at the back. Given our strength is our defending and scoring goals is a weakness, it has the makings of a decent game.

Personal favourite was when McAllister charged right through the back of Hamilton. Ref correctly booked McAllister for it. Then when Hamilton got up (after receiving treatment), ref decided to book him as well. Genuinely no idea what that booking was for.

First half was scrappy. Great header from Breen, but not much between the teams. Mehmet made a brilliant save from McAllister, after he beat Benedictus with a lovely bit of skill. Breen then stopped McAllister’s second effort on the line. Todd also had a decent effort that the keeper put out for a corner. Second half, I thought we were the better team and could have scored more. Todd couldn’t control the ball when played through, McCann had a fresh air swipe and we had a couple of other chances. Mehmet made a couple of good saves again though. Lovely second goal. Great play from Todd, great ball from McCann and Wighton got into the right area.

By the way, what’s going on? We’re now reporting it’s a one year extension! https://dafc.co.uk/story.php?t=Joe+Chalmers+contract+extended&ID=14209 “This week Dunfermline Athletic were pleased to announce that midfielder Joe Chalmers has signed a year long extension to his contract with the club.” “On talking about signing his one year extension Joe Chalmers praised the team spirit and the feeling of togetherness that exists within the squad at Dunfermline.”

Chalmers was far from the only poor player last season. Somehow though, some of our fans have noticed the improvement in Mehmet, Breen, Todd, Wighton etc, but refuse to acknowledge Chalmers’ contribution this season. Chalmers is clearly an important player in McPake’s team. Beside Hamilton, I think he’s a real asset. Hamilton excels at the things Chalmers isn’t as good at. Chalmers is the best passer of the ball on the team though, which is Hamilton’s weakness. There seems to be a deliberate tactic to get him on the ball to spread the play and start attacks. Anyone at Hamilton last week will also appreciate Chalmers’ ability to take set pieces.

Club just announced on Twitter too. Good news, Chalmers has really turned it around and become a key player in McPake’s team. Good news.

Just seen that. If he was keen to come, I’d imagine everyone was pretty focused on getting that over the line. But sounds like it’s Hartlepool failing to get someone else that meant it didn’t happen. That’s just bad luck and not the fault of anyone at the club. Here’s hoping we can get a backup option in the near future.