Who’d be a referee eh? The Hamilton and Partick Thistle fans were probably thinking Steven McLean shouldn’t be one. The embattled man in the middle, under scrutiny for his officiating in a crash, bang, wallop Betfred Cup semi-final on Sunday, swapped the frying pan of Hampden for the cursing ire of the Super Seal Stadium.
Both sets of seething spectators and finger-wagging figures in the respective dug-outs were left grumbling and grousing as McLean waved away a variety of penalty claims in a scrappy and ultimately goalless tussle.
The point at least hoisted Thistle, temporarily, off the bottom of the table while Hamilton’s wretched run of six consecutive defeats came to an end.
“One of the claims was a stone-waller and watching it back it looks even worse,” said Thistle manager Alan Archibald, of a Ryan Edwards strike that hit Dougie Imrie’s hands. “It was ridiculous. He moved his hands like a keeper in front of his face. I know he (McLean) had a big game on Sunday and he maybe just wanted to get through this one. Maybe he shouldn’t have taken this game. He’s a good referee but I’m in a bit of disbelief watching it back.”
Buoyed by a first league victory of the campaign on Saturday, there was a visible spring in the step of the Thistle players as they opened with considerable gusto. Danny Devine illustrated this early purpose as he belted in a raking effort which Gary Woods, the Hamilton keeper, padded away.
With the visitors lively and inventive, a jittery, hesitant Hamilton looked like a team in the grim midst of a prolonged losing streak. Thistle had the game in a double nelson and they came close to an opening goal when Kris Doolan’s low trundler bounced off the post and Woods thwarted Paul McGinn’s follow up.
It was a sair fecht for the hosts. McLean, meanwhile, was incurring the wrath of the locals and a tangle in the box involving Greg Docherty and Jordan Turnbull had Martin Canning, the Hamilton manager, bawling for a penalty but to no avail.
After that sprightly start to proceedings, things became decidedly uninspired as the half meandered to a conclusion but there was another loud bellow for a spot-kick when Rojano was felled by Niall Keown as he surged into the area. To the fury of the hosts, though, McLean awarded a free-kick right on the edge of the box while brandishing the yellow card to the Thistle defender. From the resulting set piece, Dougie Imrie prodded the cross wide from close range.
David Templeton was thrust into action just moments after the resumption and the Hamilton man sent in a signal of intent with a drive which flew wide as the home side tried to up the ante.
It needed some upping, mind you. Miles Storey, who ended Thistle’s search for a first win of the season with his injury time winner against Dundee at the weekend, roused the senses of the away end when his speculative cross caught Woods in a flapping fankle but the ball bounced off the bar. Storey then put that same ball over the bar when he took a searching McGinn pass in his stride but lifted a fine chance high into the night.
Thistle had their own boisterous shout for a penalty before Templeton spurned Hamilton’s best chance when he latched on to Imrie’s cut back but clattered his shot wide.
“I’m of the same opinion as Alan,” added Canning. “I thought we should have had two penalties. Greg got manhandled in the area and I thought Rojano was in the box."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here