Linlithgow Rose endure cup final agony

Jun 18 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

Linlithgow Rose 1 Musselburgh 2 MJM Cup Final

LINLITHGOW Rose boss Dave Baikie has launched a scathing attack on referee Steve Allen after he saw his side’s double dream die as they lost the MJM Cup final in the dying seconds.

“That was a very poor performance from the official,” blasted Baikie, “and one of the worst I’ve seen in my days in football.

“We had Mark Robertson sent off for a tackle which was not the worst on the night and we had to battle with 10 men.

“He also booked Gordon Herd when he went down in the box but it’s now sour grapes because we lost.

“He didn’t help our cause though with a terrible display of refereeing.”

Rose had won the Fife and Lothians Cup just two weeks ago and had their eye on a cup double but they found a Musselburgh side in top form despite having played a gruelling semi-final against Whitburn just two days earlier.

Both sides produced good attractive football with the referee in the middle causing tempers to rise with a string of controversial decisions – including Linlithgow’s equaliser.

The first half was very tight with nothing at all between the teams. The second continued in the same vein and it looked as if a penalty shoot-out was inevitable until the match burst into life in injury time.

First, Musselburgh took the lead when Chris Gordon squeezed a shot home from the edge of the box.

Surely there was no time for the West Lothian club to mount a comeback but they reckoned against blundering ref Allen who handed Rose a penalty and a way back into the match 60 seconds later.

A shot from Gordon Herd was stopped and the man in black pointed to the spot insistent that the ball had been blocked by a defender's hand.

Tommy Coyne stepped up and scored from the spot with the fans expecting to see the cup decided on the lottery of penalty kicks.

But there was still one final twist in the game as Musselburgh sensationally grabbed a winner with literally seconds left on the clock after Scott Devlin sent over a cross which Paul Currie headed home.

Musselburgh went berserk and there was barely time left for Rose to restart before the referee blew for full-time leaving Linlithgow gutted.

And Baikie pulled no punches in his post-match assessment of the man in the middle.

He added: “The penalty decision for us was a joke. We would have been angry if it had been made against us.

“It was a case of balancing the books as far as the referee was concerned. It’s time now to get working on next season but it’s disappointing to lose like that.”

Linlithgow: Pinkowski, Robertson, McDermott, Gallagher, Bradley, Hogg, McEwan, Tyrrell, Coyne, Herd, McArthur. Subs: Donnelly, Smith, McDowell, King, Bruce.