IRVINE Victoria suffered a 5-3 defeat to Gartcairn in Conference B, with boss Brian McLuckie left furious by the match referee.

The Vics gaffer felt his side showed grit and determination as they battled from 5-1 down back to 5-3 but felt poor refereeing decisions swung the game away from them.

McLuckie told the Times: “Some of the referee’s decisions were very frustrating. In hindsight Gartcairn’s penalty was soft.

“We had a claim before half-time where one of our guys was similarly pushed down and we never got anything. I thought the referee was inadequate and very poor and the standard of refereeing was not great.

“I tried to speak to him at half-time and he booked me. He would not let me speak and he kept interrupting me and I told him to shut up and listen to me and that didn’t go down well.

“Of course games can’t go ahead without referees but sometimes I think we have got referees who are focused on themselves and are looking to get promoted but they need to be able to speak to people in a proper manner and listen.

“I was just asking him a question and then he started ranting and raving.”