Irvine Meadow co-manager Colin Spence says it was a ‘poor decision’ from the referee to send off Kinlay Bilham as Medda lost 2-1 to Kirkintilloch Rob Roy at the weekend.

Meadow were looking to get back to winning ways against Rob Roy having picked up a heavy 5-1 loss to Auchinleck Talbot a fortnight ago.

They made the perfect start at Guy’s Meadow when Jamie Whyte headed in Michael Wardrope’s free kick in the opening five minutes.

However, the hosts rallied and grabbed an equaliser midway through the half when Fraser Scott smashed in from an unlikely angle.

The game then went from bad to worse for Medda when they were reduced to 10 men after Bilham was shown a straight red.

Speaking to the Times, Spence said: “I thought it was a really poor decision.

“The referee at the time went to give a yellow card to Bilham.

“But he then explained to me at half time that he took his linesman’s advice.

“The linesman was sure it was a lunge and a reckless challenge that merited a red card.

“So, I was a bit disappointed in the referee as I have seen the footage back and to me it is quite clearly not a red card.

“He should have went with his own instincts as I think he had a better view of the incident than the linesman.

“I think if he gave the yellow card no one would have batted an eyelid, it was a big call and it went against us.”

In the second half, Rob Roy took the lead when Robbie Leighton turned in a cutback inside the box.

The away side then had a chance to level late on when Wardrope was cut down whilst driving into the box.

The inform midfielder stepped up to take the spot kick but saw his effort saved.

The defeat was Meadow’s second on the bounce but Spence says they did not deserve to lose the match.

Spence said:”It was a game we did not deserve to lose.

“We have played worse and won games.

“I thought the performance was the best we have been for a couple of weeks, the players created a lot of chances.”