Ross County forward Jake Jervis wants clarity on the changes to the offside rule after the new interpretation resulted in his club’s exit from the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
The Staggies lost 2-1 at St Johnstone for the second weekend in a row but Saints’ opening goal was controversial.
Steven Anderson was in an offside position when he tried to deflect Michael O’Halloran’s shot past County goalkeeper Mark Brown. Anderson failed to make contact with the ball but Brown appealed for offside and assistant referee David Watt seemed to agree, raising his flag in support.
But match official John Beaton gave the goal, prompting furious appeals from Brown and his team-mates. The cup holders went on to win the game 2-1 but the feeling of injustice was apparent in the County camp.
Staggies manager Jim McIntyre believed the goal should not have stood and Jervis, who scored what proved to be a consolation effort, was equally perplexed.
He said: “Apparently the rule has changed which nobody seems to be aware of apart from the referee. He said the player has to be standing in front of the goalkeeper, but he was offside and tricked to flick the ball into the net. The assistant referee flagged for it, so I cannot understand why the referee gave it.
“It’s something which needs to be clarified as it was offside last season and apparently it isn’t this season. I hadn’t heard about a rule change and certainly nobody at our club was aware of it either.”
The goal was the major talking point of the match but with County out of the competition Jervis insists lessons have to be learned if the club is to move away from the bottom of the Premiership.
He said: “It is easy to blame decisions but it doesn’t change the fact we all have to do better as individuals and as a team.
“I thought we had started all right but they got the goal and it’s those little things which are the difference in games.
“We conceded two goals which shouldn’t have happened and it is the same story as last week.
“I had a good chance which I should have scored from and we had other chances which we didn’t take either. It’s why we are bottom of the league and it is something we have got to change.”