Source: Team_Talk
Pressley fuming with penalty call
Pressley could hardly control his anger following the match's turning point on the stroke of half-time and his rant is sure to land him trouble with the Scottish Football Association.[LNB]Referee Stevie O'Reilly adjudged Brian McLean had handled in the area in the 45th minute, after Kenny Deuchar headed back towards goal from Danny Grainger's cross.[LNB]Liam Craig tucked home the equaliser - his ninth goal of the season - from the penalty spot before Deuchar, like Craig a former Bairn, profited from a Tam Scobbie mistake to snatch the win the game after 84 minutes.[LNB]Marc Twaddle had earlier given Falkirk the lead before O'Reilly made Pressley's blood boil.[LNB]He said: "It's a tough one for us all to take. Obviously, I'm very, very angry at the decision made by the referee on the stroke of half-time.[LNB]"It was a game-changing decision, a big call and a decision he gets wrong. I thought there was absolutely no intent by Brian McLean to handle the ball. It angers me he made such a big call at a crucial time.[LNB]"I think for referees we are an easy club at this moment in time to make decisions against, because not enough is made of them.[LNB]"If the Old Firm get a penalty against them then it's back-page headlines.[LNB]"(But it's) easy to make decisions against Falkirk - no real repercussions, no discussions on it. That has to change.[LNB]"We can't accept what we got today, no way. No way can we accept being an easy target for referees.[LNB]"If I'm hauled up, so be it. I'm extremely angry and angry for my players who put so much into it.[LNB]"In terms of penalties against us, it seems to be a club that referees find easy to give penalties against. That has to change."[LNB]Pressley's side are now 11 points behind Saints and face a growing fight to overhaul the likes of Hamilton and St Mirren to stay up.[LNB]He added: "We just have to continue to apply ourselves in the right manner, pick ourselves up and not feel sorry for ourselves. I can assure you we will come out fighting next week for the Hamilton game.[LNB]"Probably on reflection a draw might have been a fair result, up until their goal I thought we fully merited the lead."[LNB]On Scobbie's error, after he allowed Deuchar to lob home in failing to deal with a long ball, he said: "It's a disappointing goal. Every goal you lose is disappointing.[LNB]"We must react in a positive manner this week; we must come out fighting next week. That for me is the biggest thing: the reaction."[LNB]St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes disagreed with Pressley, feeling it was a spot-kick.[LNB]He said: "My initial reaction was a penalty kick, I shouted for it.[LNB]"I thought the referee had a really good view of it.[LNB]"We have been on the wrong end of a lot of poor penalty decisions this season as well, but I thought that was a penalty. Credit Liam for putting it away, he still had that job to do and he has done that well this season."[LNB]McInnes' side went a long way to securing SPL survival with a key win and still boast games in hand.[LNB]He added: "There is a thin line between winning and losing, as we found to our cost last week, losing a late goal against Motherwell.[LNB]"I said at the start of this week, this was as important a game (as any) in my career as manager at St Johnstone and I wanted the players to realise the importance of that.[LNB]"The crowd came down in their numbers for us, which I was absolutely delighted with. When they give us that type of support, they were brilliant today, we very rarely let them down.[LNB]"I was delighted the players managed to win the game, especially after coming from behind. There wasn't a lot in it but I thought we did just enough in the second half to win it."[LNB][LNB]
