Post-Match Reaction: Fridge Furious With Officials
Nairn County manager Les Fridge was left raging with referee Roddy Cobb and his assistants following his side's 3-2 defeat at Fraserburgh on Saturday.
The boss saw his side fall behind to a Derek Milne strike before Shaun Kerr equalised to send the teams in level at the interval. After the break, County had a seemingly legitimate goal chalked off for offside before The Broch regained the initiative with goals from substitute Gavin Wemyss and Graham Johnston in a 10-minute period.
Fridge said: "It was a game with quite a bit of controversy once again. I don't want to get myself into trouble with referees because I realise their job is hard enough as it is but some of the decisions were very difficult to take.
"We scored a goal which would have put us 2-1 up where Shaun Kerr has come from behind Duncan Jones to score yet the referee - not the linesman - has given offside. We have photographic evidence to prove it was not offside (available to view via the Match Pictures link at the bottom of this page) and instead of going 2-1 up, a position from which I firmly believe we would have gone on to win the game,
He added: "It was an uphill task from there and then John Campbell was carried off. But we got back into the game with a goal from Gregg Main. Then in the last minute, Shaun Kerr goes through one-on-one with the keeper, rounds him then gets taken down so the ref points to the spot.
"At this point, the linesman puts his flag up and the outcome is an offside. Shaun has already run 10 yards with the ball so what I cannot understand is why he was not offside in the first place?"
Fridge was also unhappy with the distribution of yellow cards throughout a game in which Nairn committed 18 fouls to the Broch's 14 and even compared a gash picked up by Willie Barron to being on the receiving end of an attack by a great white.
"After the game Shaun Kerr was sent off for comments and when you look at it, we had six players booked and one sent off while they only had one booked," he said. "Willie Barron looks as though he has been attacked by a shark with three stud marks running for about a foot down both thighs due to a two-footed tackle, yet the foul went against Willie."
Fridge added: "The funny thing is, the booking they picked up was for the collision with John Campbell which probably wasn't even a booking. There is no point in moaning about it because it doesn't make a difference and, as I said, the officials' job is hard enough but it is difficult to come to terms with it at times."
The manager believes the poor decisions that have gone against his team in recent weeks have contributed majorly towards his side sitting sixth in the table and not up challenging at the very top.
He said: "Over the past two games, we have had a penalty given against us when the ball was out of play which cost us two points and now the offside goal at 2-1 and the offside decision at 3-2 so that is another one or possibly three points. If you add five points to our tally we would be level with Inverurie Locos.
"It isn't sour grapes about other teams picking up points it is just frustration at how things have gone in the last couple of weeks and anyone who was at the grounds will know what I am talking about. We have played well and battled away and although we have not won in the last four games, we have not been playing badly. It is just frustrating when, as I have said, circumstances outwith our control have affected the result."
Following Campbell's release from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Fridge reported that there were no long term concerns regarding the injury picked up by Nairn's number one. He added: "John's back home now and badly bruised but it's nothing serious. We're glad to see he's alright and we'll just have to wait and see how he responds to the injury."
County's scheduled opponents for this weekend, Forres Mechanics, are in Scottish Cup action this weekend as are Brora Rangers, the only team Nairn have a previously postponed game with to fit into the fixture list. That means Fridge's side are out of competitive action with their next league fixture taking place on Saturday November 1 away at Huntly.