Cove Rangers boss Paul Hartley intends to appeal the red card he was shown in the aftermath of his side’s 2-1 defeat against Airdrieonians.
Cove left themselves with work to do in the Scottish Championship play-off final following a narrow 2-1 first leg loss at Balmoral Stadium.
Dylan MacDonald headed the Diamonds in front with only his second goal of the season, before Cove levelled through a Lewis McGrattan own goal.
Cove made a promising start to the second half, but Lewis Strapp gave Airdrie the advantage after 63 minutes.
Hartley was shown a red card after the full-time whistle by referee Lloyd Wilson for complaining about a late challenge between Airdrie goalscorer MacDonald and Cove substitute Connor Scully.
He said: “It was laughable.
“I felt it was a free-kick for us so I approached the referee after the game.
“My player was there to witness it and so were the two linesmen.
“I said to them there were two teams on the pitch and I felt that was a free-kick to us, and I was shown a red card.
“If that is a red card, what has the game come to?
“There was no foul language – I just said it was terrible and there are two teams on the pitch.
“I am going to appeal that. That red card is out of order.
“I was just trying to speak to him. It’s a bad day where you can’t speak to anyone.
“In the good days, when I played, you could speak to referees.”
Hartley: Display deserved more
Cove boss Hartley is hoping to emulate East Fife Dick Campbell as the manager with most promotions in Scottish league football. Campbell has six to his name, while Hartley has won promotion with Alloa twice, Dundee once and Cove twice.
The Cove boss felt his side deserved more than to head into this weekend’s second leg with a one-goal deficit.
He said: ” I thought we were right in it. We played really well.
“We were really good in the first half and we started the second half really well.
“There was a 25 minute period where they had a lot of pressure against us but I think
we’re right in the tie.
“I thought we were good.”
He added: “We felt that the goals they scored were preventable.
“The first goal was a free header and we’ve not picked up.
“And then the second one, we’ve got to clear our lines and defend better down the side.
“That’s the nature of it – you can get punished against good teams but I feel that we’re right in the game for Saturday.”
The second leg at the Albert Bartlett Stadium kicks off at 5.30pm on Saturday and will be shown live on BBC Alba.
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