John Hughes has accused referee David Munro of guesswork after a contentious penalty condemned Dunfermline to a 1-0 defeat against Hamilton.
In a galling afternoon for the Pars faithful, Hughes also confirmed that talismanic winger Dom Thomas could be sidelined for ‘the foreseeable future’ with a knee injury.
An attritional contest in Lanarkshire was settled on the hour-mark when Munro adjudged Dorrans to have blocked a goal-bound effort with his arm.
Hughes, having reviewed footage, was adamant the ball struck his captain’s chest.
Nevertheless, Dorrans was dismissed and David Moyo slotted home the resultant spot-kick.
🎥 The only goal from yesterday's 1-0 defeat away to Hamilton. pic.twitter.com/hN1cWGFo1y
— Dunfermline Athletic (@officialdafc) December 5, 2021
“The ball hit Graham on his chest and the referee said it was hand-ball — so I don’t know what he is looking at,” said Hughes. “I asked that question
“I get the chance to look at it. My video guys are there. But it’s not even close. People will see it on the footage.
“For the referee to give a penalty and say it hit his hand? He must have been guessing. He’s guessing; he’s miles off it.
“You are expecting better than that. That’s why they are there. You have to get that right. We deserve a bit better than that.
“I spoke to him [the referee] and he said, ‘you’ve had the opportunity to look at it’. I said, ‘okay, but what were you looking at, thinking it was a hand-ball? You’re making it up.’
Appeal
Should Dorrans be exonerated by video evidence, Dunfermline can appeal the dismissal and the experienced midfielder could yet feature against Queen of the South next weekend.
“I’m quite sure the club will have a look at it and we’ll have to go through the proper processes,” he added.
Hughes, however, was keen to emphasise: “In saying that, I am honest enough to say that Hamilton were the better team and we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Dom Thomas could go under the knife
In another hammer-blow for Dunfermline, Thomas sat out the trip to Accies and could face a lengthy lay-off.
The mercurial wide-man will visit a specialist on Monday and could require an operation.
“Dom has a knee problem and might be missing for the foreseeable future,” rued Hughes.
“He will go in to see a specialist on Monday and it might be a wee tidy-up [operation] on his knee.
“Dom was missed on Saturday — but that’s football, we just need to get on with it.”
