Angry football manager told he couldn’t bring on striker during Scottish cup clash as bonkers technical error revealed
PARTICK THISTLE manager Kris Doolan fumed at his side being blocked from making a substitution against Motherwell on Sunday.
Thistle played out a goalless draw against Motherwell in the Scottish League Cup, meaning they finished behind the Fir Park men in the group stages and were dumped from the competition.
Thistle manager Doolan thinks his side could have got the job done if they had been able to bring on striker – something which they were blocked from doing after an unbelievable technical error.
Doolan had hoped to sub on 19-year-old forward Ricco Diack, but was bizarrely told he couldn’t do it because of an incorrectly cropped screenshot.
Officials informed Doolan that Diack couldn’t enter the pitch as he wasn’t listed on the Partick Thistle team sheet.
Only to discover that the teams were screenshotted from an app by the officiating team and Diack’s name had been cut off at the bottom of the screen.
Doolan ranted about the unbelievable mistake in his post-match interview with Premier Sports.
He said: “We showed that we’re capable at this level of performing and performing well, but on the other side I’m a bit angry.
“The fact that I went to put a striker on and I was told I couldn’t because he wasn’t on the team lines.
“Only for it to turn out that he was actually on the team lines and it was an error.”
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He explained: “We’re obviously putting a striker on to try and win the game.
“We were then told that we couldn’t list him on the teamsheet so we couldn’t put him on.
“We thought that was our error, but after the game we found out that he was on the teamsheet from our side.
“It’s all done online now, it’s all done via an app, and unfortunately eight names out of the nine [substitutes] were screenshot and the ninth one was cut off.
“So the referees didn’t actually know that Ricco was on the team lines.”
Adding: “We’re looking to try and win the game, it’s worth a lot of money to the club and it’s a good chance for us to go through and get that money.
“Unfortunately an error on the part of, a common system, has thrown that out of the park for us.”
Doolan also revealed that he feels he “has to” speak to the SPFL about the decision, describing it as “really disappointing”.
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Fans couldn’t believe the shocking gaffe either and took to social media to react, with some calling for the match to be replayed.
One wrote: “Absolute shambles this is btw. Could’ve/would’ve been the difference between going through or not. Shambles is an understatement.”
While another added: “Surely this game should be replayed??”
A third joked: “A definite disadvantage to Thistle due to incompetence outside of our control, some form of apology should be on its way along with a way to rectify this error.”
And a fourth posted: “The whole system is a joke.”