Ex-Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has given his opinion on Dundee’s second goal in their 4-1 victory over Motherwell on Wednesday.
Seconds before Scott Tiffoney’s finish to put Dundee 2-1 up, Motherwell’s Kofi Balmer was dealt an accidental knock in the head in the opposite box.
But referee John Beaton either didn’t see the head knock himself or deemed it worthy enough to stop play, so the game continued.
Dundee then raced up the other end of the field and scored, much to seething Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell’s frustration.
Kettlewell was livid after the game and accused Beaton of ‘playing God’ while saying flashpoints like these can impact livelihoods and jobs.
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Dermot Gallagher on Motherwell head knock incident
Now, Gallagher has spoken on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch programme to give his take and sympathised with Beaton.
The experienced former whistler said: “Well the referee is in an awful dilemma here because the ball’s come across, the goalkeeper’s caught the ball, he (Beaton) probably hasn’t seen that player (Balmer) fall to the deck, he’s not aware.
“When the goalkeeper rolls it out, the referee’s first priority is to follow the ball which he does upfield. He has no idea what’s going on behind his back.
“So the ball goes in the net the other end and he’s got to give the goal because it’s been scored. He can’t go back then, he can only go back and have the player assessed.
“But it’s just really, really unlucky for the referee that it happened behind his back.”
Stuart Kettlewell was livid with John Beaton
Kettlewell delivered an impassioned interview to the BBC after Motherwell’s defeat at Dens Park and claimed Beaton felt there wasn’t enough contact on Balmer’s head.
He said: “Kofi Balmer falls to the ground and takes a knee and studs to his head.
“I’ve had a conversation with John Beaton there and he decided during it that he was going to play God and decided whether it was a bad enough head knock or not.
“Now he completely disagrees with me that that’s not the case, he just didn’t feel there was enough contact to Kofi’s head.
“I’ve seen the angles back. As he’s falling to the ground, the grappling that takes place, whether you decide that’s a penalty or not, when that player falls to the ground and takes a knee to the face and then followed up with a stud, completely accidental I have to say.
“But he never moves from the ground, he’s lying down holding his head and he never moves from the ground. The counter-attack goes up the other end, I’m speaking to the fourth official to tell him that my player’s not motioned, he’s not moved inside the penalty area.”