Dons players see red as referee’s decisions prove controversial

Hibs leave it late to snatch three points after visitors are reduced to nine men

Published:

FEELING THE PAIN: Dons midfielder Fraser Fyvie writhes in agony after the challenge by Ian Murray. Raymond Besant

Thwarted: Lee Miller is the meat in the sandwich as John Rankin and Sol Bamba keep a close eye on the Dons attacker

Referee Steven Nicholls was the central figure and the talking point as Aberdeen suffered their third defeat of the SPL season on Saturday but the match official was not the reason the Dons lost at Easter Road.

The Aberdeen players felt a sense of injustice at the official, who was handling just his second SPL game, for showing red cards to Maurice Ross and Chris Maguire, and then failing to take the same action when Ian Murray’s challenge resulted in Fraser Fyvie being stretchered off with suspected ankle ligament damage.

Dons manager Mark McGhee claimed the decision to order off Ross was correct but Nicholls had got it wrong with the Maguire and Murray decisions. While Nicholls gave himself a difficult afternoon by displaying an eagerness to stamp his authority on proceedings in the first half, he did get the crucial decisions right.

Ross was guilty of two foolish challenges, both of which were worthy of a yellow card. Maguire, who was booked in the first half, was also culpable in his own dismissal, displaying a poor moment of ball control which led to him being overzealous in his attempt to retrieve the situation. That he was shown a straight red by Nicholls may be a contentious issue, but his challenge was one which has resulted in a yellow card being shown in other games this season.

Murray was on the receiving end of the first incident which resulted in the dismissal of Ross and he did injure Fyvie, of that there is no doubt, but while his sliding challenge was a strong one, there was no doubt he timed his tackle perfectly to win the ball and the resulting injury to the Dons midfielder was no more than misfortune on Fyvie’s part.

That the Dons held out for 27 minutes with nine men before conceding two goals in the final two minutes is admirable, as was the attitude following the loss of the two players with McGhee’s players arguably causing Hibernian more problems with nine players than they had with 11.

This was a clash of styles with the home side’s flair matching up against the dogged qualities of the visitors, and it was the Dons who shaded the first-half action.

McGhee is still searching for the most effective formation. He went 4-4-2 on Saturday with Richard Foster moving back to left back, Charlie Mulgrew pushed forward to wide left of midfield, and Maguire chosen to partner Lee Miller in attack. The result was a resilient two banks of four from the Dons which contained Hibs well, but Miller and Maguire were restricted in the final third, both often having to drop short to link up with their midfield.

The strengths of the teams cancelled out each other, resulting in a frustrating afternoon for the home side and a game which offered more bookings than goalmouth action.

Aberdeen went into the break with confidence, but their hard work was undone within a couple of minutes of the restart when they were reduced to 10 men. Ross, who had been a willing runner down the right from his defensive role in the opening 45 minutes, was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Ian Murray.

Events went from bad to worse for the Dons when Maguire joined his team-mate in heading for an early exit. Maguire’s control let him down when he collected a pass and he went into a 50-50 challenge with Kevin McBride.

The tackle was deemed a stamp by the referee and the Dons forward was shown a straight red, to his obvious shock and that of all his team-mates.

Two men down, the Dons allowed Hibs the space they had been denied in the first half and while the home side increased the tempo and began to test Jamie Langfield, Aberdeen’s sense of injustice added motivation and they gave everything as they hung on for a point.

Gary McDonald tested Graham Stack with a 25-yard strike in a rare attempt on goal from the visitors but their day got worse still when Fyvie was stretchered off following a strong challenge from Murray.

The setback was one too many for the unfortunate visitors whose excellent efforts were undone two minutes from time. Hibs broke forward and the ball was played in from the right by Kurtis Byrne to Colin Nish, who guided his eight-yard header past Langfield.

The home side rubbed salt in the wounds with a second goal in injury time when Liam Miller’s shot deflected off Charlie Mulgrew to wrong foot Langfield.