Bobby_F

Three Dundee fans on P&B saying that was a stonewaller, and wondering why Saints fans aren't making more of it. I said we're almost shell shocked by the number of crap, important, decisions going against us :-)

I could be wrong, but I thought that tackle happened just inside the Dundee half not near the corner flag? Maybe talking about a different tackle?

Correct. Doesn't look like it was offside - but it was incredibly tight. Kinda thing where officials could easily get it wrong, and maybe if things are going for us, they give that as offside and Dundee are moaning about a decision going against them. That IS what they mean by things evening themselves out isn't it?

Just saw Arquin's 'dive' on Sky Sports. Watched it 2-3 times. Looks incredibly harsh. Think he slipped rather than intentionally dived. For the ref to effectively send a player off for a dive surely he needs to be 100% certain that it was a dive. I genuinely can't see how he can make that call - but he seemed pretty keen to get that second yellow out.

He didn't say who he thought "they" were, but I assumed the SFA/SPL. Seems totally preposterous that there would be any kind of official conspiracy against us - so I'm sure there isn't. I think he was perhaps feeling frustration at the fact the team really seems to have upped its game since Teale took charge - yet the breaks and decisions over that period all seem to be going against us. There must come a time when you look at the facts and have to entertain that this can't all be bad luck or poor officiating. Maybe the SPFL still resent the two chairmen who knocked back the 8-8-8 shit and want to punish them for stopping Sevco getting back to the top league earlier? Both of their teams are favourites to go down. Who knows, but it is getting increasingly hard to watch what's happening to us and not get paranoid. Simple thing from today... I've not seen the replays, but some people saying Arquin's second yellow was justified. However his first (which of course meant the second led to a red) was nowhere near as bad a foul as Harkins in the opening minute, or as blatant as him being pulled back by Dyer as he tried to make a supporting run. Neither Harkins nor Dyer were booked. Arquin was - and then was sent off - and as it's two yellows I believe we can't appeal it, even if (hypothetically) both yellows are shown to have been wrong. These are not difficult decisions, but they're not getting them right, and the major ones seem to be going against us.

Selective higlighting on your part if you're trying to equate what happened to Well that day with what happened to us against Killie. Well were 1-0 down with 4 minutes to go when Collum incorrectly awarded their opponents a penalty and sent a man off. He incorrectly awarded two penalties against us and sent a man of while the game was in the balance. AND missed the only clear penalty that should have been awadred in that game - which would have been to us.

Really? So instead of the officials giving the correct decision, Saints having a chance to keep the attacking momentum going and another dangerous Mallan corner; possession is given to our opponents. Sure, we should have defended better, but I think it's valid to point out that our opponents shouldn't have had the ball anyway. No?

Not forgetting that the only clear penalty in the Killie game was for US when it should have been 0-0.

Easy to prove the corner or goal kick incident. If it was a goal kick Sportscene will prove it was by doing a slow mo replay with the Goodwin magnifying glass on it. If it was a corner they won't show it.

Offside or not, we should have been up the other end of the pitch taking a corner rather than picking the ball out of the net. Unfathomable how the linesman got that wrong. He looks indecisive initially then gives the goal kick. Maybe wondering if he could get away with it, and then thinking what the feck. For the second, don't think the foul was a foul, but immediately prior to that they were also given a foul when Irvine dived to try to get Arquin sent off. This really is getting beyond a joke. One of the guys that sits near me is as far from a conspiracy theorist as you can get, but at the end of the match he said "if they want us relegated, why don't they just do it now, watching this every week is killing me".

I'd like to think you were joking, but you're probably not. Given Sunday night's hatchet job where they did their best to prejudice Arquin's red card appeal and dust off the 'Goodwin magnifying glass' to try to show our winning goal should have been chopped off, well, I'm not surprised. And I really do not think this is paranoia - it's gone beyond that.

He seemed to be running full pelt, whilst looking at GMS and laughing at him for having to run around the linesman. Nice one Jim!

Last night, Cifti took a swipe at McGinn (two actually, but one connected). I absolutely loved McGinn's reaction, but contrast that with what most other team's players do - including Toshney on Saturday - and you can see why being a bit more 'streetwise' might make a difference every now and then - and in a lot of our games this season, the margins have been super fine. We've lost twice to Well whilst out playing them for example.

You'd think, and indeed I've often said in the past that's what should happen, but it definitely isn't. If you are standing on the goal line and, for some reason, facing the stand behind the goals, and a shot hits your hand preventing a certain goal - no foul, no card, play on.

Yip, and potentially much more dangerous than Arquin's.

One other thing on the handball, it has to be intentional. Maradona's was. IF it hit Mallandona's hand it was accidental. So NOT an infringement.

From last week's Killie v Inverness game. Just a yellow card. And these two from Sevco's last visit to Tynecastle. Just a yellow card. Just a yellow card. I don't think Saints fans who thing Arquin has been ridiculously harshly cheated - by the 4th official at the game and the pundits last night - are being unreasonable. I'll say it again, it wasn't dangerous, it wasn't malicious, it didn't stop a goal scoring opportunity. It wasn't a red.

Look at all those people claiming for hand ball!

Probably because the commentators and press have all said so. The press's initial reaction was that the card was 'very harsh'. But as soon as TV pronounces its verdict the journos all close ranks. Even if he did end up stamping on Toshney's foot, it was not intentional, and while it may have been reckless it wasn't dangerous. I'd be complaining about a yellow card for that, but realise that's what's normally given for a forward's clumsy tackle. When you look at what Boyd and Miller got away with yellows for at Tynecastle last month, Arquin's was a yellow at most.

I really don't want to see us starting to cheat like that, but I do get mightily pissed off with what seems to be a real lack of consistency in what incidents they highlight and how. The 'Goodwin Magnifying Glass' being used selectively on us, and not on others does not seem fair in the slightest.

He definitely does stamp... on the ball. The RC player kicks the ball away and there's then contact. Awful red card. And on a day where Scott Brown gets a cosy wee chat from the ref for kicking an Accies player (and Sportscene don't even bother showing it) it stinks to high heaven.

Angles can be deceptive. I think, watching the video, that the ball starts to go towards goal when it hits Mallen on the left side of his body. At that angle, and from that distance, a pic taken as the ball is heading towards the net would look just like that. That pic absolutely does not prove it was handball. Unfortunately though, the Sportscene mafia have decided that it was handball. As I said earlier, if there'd been a whiff of handball the RC players and fans would have gone mental.

I don't think he was saying you were a slabbering bawbag - it was the pundits, and to be honest, I think he's got a point. These guys have stopped playing and all have their own petty agendas to pursue. What did you think of what Bonnar said when they put the magnifying glass on Scott Brown's deliberate kick on an Accies player in yesterday's game? Oh wait a minute, they didn't ask him, because they didn't show it. And that in a nutshell is what really pisses me off with Sportscene. Totally selective editing, and their editorial team seem to be able to decide who does and does not get punished for offences during a game.

It wasn't 'naughty'. He put his foot on top of the ball first. If he wanted to 'do' the player his motion and 'aim' would be completely different. It's a nothing tackle. Looks like he hits the ball, Toshny kicks the ball, Arquin's momentum carries through and there's contact. As I said earlier, if that's a red card, the game's done.

If that is a straight red card, the game is fecked.