Dougie Imrie didn’t mince his words after today’s defeat at Ibrox- his assessment was as brutal as a challenge from Joe Garner.
The Hamilton midfielder described Garner attack on him early in the second half as a ‘leg-breaker’ and was bemused by the other decisions that went against his side.
John Beaton’s display attracted widespread criticism as he made a number of errors that were far from borderline.
After the match Accies boss Martin Canning was restrained in his comments about the match official but Imrie put diplomacy to one side as he assessed the loss of a win bonus and semi-final place.
John Beaton thinks he’s refereeing Mixed Martial Arts pic.twitter.com/7svb329oW7
— McBookie (@McBookie) March 4, 2017
Asked after the match by Radio Clyde if Garner should still have been on the pitch the Hamilton midfielder said: “In my opinion, no. The lino is four yards away, the referee five yards away. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to be singling out referees, they have a hard job but these are the decisions that change games, he’s gone on to score a hat-trick.
“If he is sent off in that situation he’s not going to score three goals and who’s to say that we’re not going to get something out of the game?
“Referees have a hard job but it’s just disappointing when they are so close to the incident and they don’t get it correct.”
Asked if that added to Foderingham handling outside the box Imrie replied: “You can go for the penalty as well, it’s not a penalty either. Toral has gone to shoot and kicks the ground, he falls down and the referee gives a penalty for that as well.
“Like you say there is the Wes Foderingham one as well, he’s two yards outside the box. Decisions are going against us.”
Going back to the Garner booking Imrie added: “He’s just on the park, it’s three minutes into the second half and there’s nothing in it. I don’t know if we’re in the UFC, are we in the UFC?
“It’s disappointing but one of those things. You either get it or you don’t and I don’t want to divulge too much into it.
“The referees have a hard enough job so I won’t make so much of it. I think it was nearly a leg breaker so it was quite high to be fair.
“One thing I will say, if that’s myself or Darian MacKinnon we’re off the park so we’ll leave it at that.”
Beaton has had a nightmare season since day one but as he is on the FIFA list continues to get appointed to the biggest fixtures.
In August he awarded Hearts a penalty against Celtic, after the match Jamie Walker was given a two match retrospective suspension.
In October Beaton missed a phantom goal from Motherwell at Dundee, afterwards Mark McGhee was given a touchline ban for trying to confront the match official.