James McPake insists David Wotherspoon’s red card was ‘wrong’ – but has praised Dunfermline for battling on with ten men against Morton.
The Pars suffered a bitterly disappointing 2-0 defeat in Greenock and are now three points adrift in second-bottom in the Championship.
It was a game of little quality as a first-half header from Morgan Boyes at a corner and a freak cross-cum-shot from Cameron Blues, which caught out Tobi Oluwayemi just a minute after the restart, earned the hosts a valuable three points.
Dunfermline struggled to create much in attack throughout a laboured 90 minutes in horrible overhead and underfoot conditions at Cappielow.
But Wotherspoon’s dismissal in the 50th minute for a second booking in the space of just two minutes left the Fifers with an uphill struggle.
“[It was] disappointing in the first-half,” said McPake. “It was difficult conditions, but difficult conditions for Morton as well, so that’s certainly not an excuse.
“But to lose a goal from a set-play, we don’t deal with the throw-in well enough and then they’re a threat for set-plays, we knew that.
“But you get in and you’re hoping to get going.
“I don’t think you can blame Tobi [Oluwayemi]. I think it’s just a cross that ends up, with the conditions, going in.
‘David’s not that type of player’
“Tobi was excellent all afternoon – and so was Ryan Mullen, to be fair. The two goalkeepers were the best players on the pitch for both teams on a difficult day.”
Asked about the red card, McPake added: “IDavid [Wotherspoon] is adamant that the first one is a foul for the cross going in, but again, that’s me without seeing it. I’ll need to see it back.
“And then the second one, I think he says it’s reckless and dangerous. I know David’s not that type of player, but I will need to see it back.
“Certainly from what I’ve heard, the referee [Dan McFarlane] got it wrong.
“But I’ll go the opposite way if I look at it and I think it’s the right call.”
McPake took heart from the return of Chris Kane as a 64th-minute substitute and from his side’s willingness to go right to the end.
They should have pulled one back but Tommy Fogarty, who had been denied by a first-half goal-line clearance from the head of Blues, failed to beat Mullen from close range in injury-time.
“The one thing I will say [is] they never gave in at any point,” he added. “They kept going.”
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