Let's get Back To Talking Football And Not Referees

Last updated : 27 October 2010 By Ed_ScottishFitba

Kilmarnock have no fresh injury problems for their Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final against Rangers. Long-term injury absentees James Dayton and Alan Combe remain on the sidelines. Dayton is likely to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury while Combe is still to return from summer hernia surgery. 

Kilmarnock manager Mixu Paatelainen has called for officials to be given "breathing space" after a recent backlash over high-profile penalty decisions. Paatelainen played down two major spot-kick rulings after his side's 2-1 defeat by Inverness at the weekend, both of which went against his team. And he believes piling the pressure on referees is self-defeating. The former Hibs manager said: "I think referees should be given the breathing space. If there is too much pressure on referees before matches or after matches, they will not approach matches in a relaxed mood, a mood that enables them to perform to the best of their ability. If it goes to the ridiculous stuff in the papers today, that's bang out of order, that shouldn't happen. Of course they feel pressure, because their decisions quite often decide matches. So it is a very important job and it's very important that all officials are relaxed."

Rangers will be without Sasa Papac as he suffered an ankle injury against Celtic but should be back in action for next week`s Champions League meeting with Valencia. Manager Walter Smith has no other fresh injury concerns, although Aberdeen loan signing Richard Foster is cup-tied for the visit to Rugby Park. Smith admitted: "We don't have a large group of players and we are going into a League Cup tie with Kilmarnock with one or two of our players looking as though there is a bit of tiredness there. We have had some big games as a club and we have also had some big games internationally with a number of players involved in that arena as well. There is a lot of football to be played and we only have a small group of players so we are already seeing that we are putting them under a little bit of pressure. We have to make sure we are right and it makes tomorrow's game an awkward game for everyone. The size of our squad may determine ultimately, depending on injury and suspension, how we get on. We have shown we can acquit ourselves well with the group we have, but the aspects which are difficult for us to handle would be the injuries and suspensions. That can upset our season, we know that, and we are just pleased we have started the season the way we have. We are asking a lot of a small group of players to handle the situation.''
Editor
Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba.net)

Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba.net)

This is Scottish-Fitba.Net