Dunfermline: Pars lose appeal against Kevin O'Hara red card

Press Sport revealed yesterday that the club had lodged a bid to have Kevin O'Hara's sending off in Saturday's draw at Airdrieonians overturned.

The forward, who had been brought on as a 55th minute substitute, was ordered off by referee, Greg Aitken, following a challenge on Diamonds player, Craig Watson, with 20 minutes to go.

The decision, which came after Aitken had already dismissed captain, Kyle Benedictus, enraged the Athletic bench, with assistant boss, Dave Mackay, also shown a red card for his protests.

McPake believed that the champions had a strong case for overturning the decision, citing that both the player, and Airdrie player / boss, Rhys McCabe, both said that the challenge was, at most, a foul.

Dunfermline were told yesterday that their appeal had been rejected, meaning O'Hara, who is out of contract at the end of next month, will now be banned for two games.

He will miss Saturday's final home match of the season with Clyde, after which, the Pars will receive the League One trophy, and the last game of the campaign at his former club, Alloa Athletic, on May 6.

"In my opinion, Kevin shouldn't have been sent off. That's why we appealed that," McPake said.

"It's done now. I feel for Kevin, I do. It's a two-game ban; the appeal has been turned down and we don't know why.

"Kevin pulled out (of the challenge). The Airdrie player said that it was a foul, nothing more. Rhys McCabe said that if it was a foul, it was a harsh foul. The two of them were looking at the ball, the two of them go for the ball, which is fair enough and right.

"The ball was in the air - their feet were going to be up. None of them were out of control, it was just two committed players going for a ball. Unfortunately we don’t have VAR to get the camera angle from the other side, but the referee had a clear and unobstructed view, supposedly.

"I don't want it to come as a slamming of referees, because we have some very good ones. The relationships and the conversations that you can have with the people in charge of the referees is excellent. That's all you can ask.

"They will make mistakes, but if we can find some way that we can all communicate, it will be much better for the game.

"I'll be fair to the officials, in particular on the technical area touchline - he was excellent during the game on Saturday. The Benedictus one is too tight to call, I understand that. He's got a split-second view to see if it is offside; I think he's made the right call. He gave the foul on Paul Allan, while the referee decided he wanted to play. In general, the stand-side linesman's communication was good on the day."

Kyle Benedictus was also shown a red card on Saturday. All photos: Craig Brown.

He continued: "What I said after the game I stand by. There's a problem and I don't know it's subconsciously, when people have been used to refereeing at Celtic Park, at Ibrox, places that like.

"Again, it's no disrespect to us or Airdrie, but you're dropping down two leagues. Does it affect them? I don't know. It shouldn't because every game's important, equally important as the other one, for a number of reasons - fanbase, jobs, players, wins, play-offs.

"I've had a go at referees and had to apologise. Some referees have got decisions wrong and they've apologised the next time you see them. That same referee doesn't owe anything when he apologises. If you step out of line he`ll do his job.

"We`ve got some good referees and Crawford Allan (head of referee operations with the SFA) is really good as well, I must say that. Any time I speak to Crawford he`s fantastic. Again, he`s not afraid to tell you what he thinks. It`s not a case that you call him up and he glosses over it. Saturday was just a strange one.

"There is some that are excellent. Just to add context, when we played Partick Thistle, a game we were gutted to lose on penalties, there was a referees` assessor there and, when the assessor is there, they normally come to you and ask if there are any problems. I said, no. We didn`t win the game, I'm devastated, but the officials I thought were great, and they were that day.

"I said, can I knock their door? I said, listen I`m only here to say that communication was great. It wasn`t a case that every time you spoke to them they spoke back. If you were out of line they`d tell you to be quiet or not speak to you, which they have every right to do.

"I just feel that wasn`t there on Saturday, you could not speak. What do you do about it? I`m not saying that we need to rip everything up and try and make everybody better - you need to talk to people.

"For me, there`s got to be that mutual respect and to get that, then they need to communicate. I don`t mean come out and do interviews after the game. I`ve not got an opinion on that because I`ve ever really looked into it.

"When I played in England and I was a captain a few times, you went in and met the referee before the game, the captain, the manager, and then the opposition as well. Do you need that? I'm not so sure, but there certainly needs to be better communication."

McPake added: "I would say, in particular, from the ones that are higher. I`m not going against the ones in our league because, on the whole, they`ve been good.

"They make mistakes, I`ve made mistakes, every player in the team has made mistakes, every team. Officials are going to; the game is 100mph. They get a split-second, there`s no VAR when they make it.

"It`s as if they don`t want to talk to you. That might just be their approach. They just want to get in and do their work but, if that`s the approach, it`s never going to work. We`re never going to find a common respect between referee and player or referee and staff if that`s the case.

"Being a player, I had good relationship with referees, but referees still sent me off when I made a bad tackle. It’s the way it goes.

"I’ve got good relationships with a lot of officials in all the divisions but, if you step out of line, they’re quick to do their job and I fully understand that, and I`m the first to knock on the door."

The Pars didn't appeal the red card issued to Benedictus, for fouling Airdrie's Callum Smith as he attempted to run in on goal, and he will, therefore, serve a one match ban this Saturday.