Clarke feels Kilmarnock deserved more at Hibernian

Posted Sunday, September 16, 2018 by PA

Kilmarnock manager Steve Clark admits he felt hard done by after another refereeing decision cost his side in the 3-2 Ladbrokes Premiership defeat at Hibernian.

The home side edged a compelling contest after Florian Kamberi converted a 78th-minute penalty.

Clarke insists referee John Beaton was wrong to award the spot kick after claiming Kirk Broadfoot had actually been penalised by Jamie Maclaren during the controversial incident.

The former Chelsea assistant manager also felt Broadfoot should have been awarded a penalty at the opposite end in stoppage time after going down under a challenge from Efe Ambrose.

Clarke said: “If you watch back then you’ll see that Maclaren actually kicks Kirk on the back of the foot. How that can be a penalty I’m not sure.

“There was contact in the box on Kirk and I think if it’s a day for soft penalties then it should have been one each.

“We should have got something from the game because we definitely deserved it. I was quietly fuming afterwards because we let a decent situation slip away from us.

“It was a good free-kick from Stevie Mallan from another soft free-kick award and then we conceded from a corner – but we responded with two really good team goals.

“But events went against us and we feel really hard done by.”

Hibs stormed into a two-goal lead inside 23 minutes after Mallan scored a stunning free-kick before setting up David Gray to head in from a corner.

Eamonn Brophy brought the visitors into the game three minutes later before Greg Stewart scored a fantastic goal just before the break.

Kamberi notched the decisive strike and Hibs manager Neil Lennon was thrilled to earn a first Premiership win in four attempts.

He said: “It was a great game, a high quality football match and the first four goals were outstanding.

“I am disappointed from our point of view, we were very passive with the two goals.

“We got the break with penalty and it’s a brilliant win for us.

“I was really concerned about the game going into it because Kilmarnock had a great win at Aberdeen, not many teams do that, and they’re a good team.”