Jim Goodwin has say on Hibs penalty as he makes Ryan Porteous claim

Jim Goodwin believes Ryan Porteous has a habit of ‘winning cheap free-kicks’ as the St Mirren boss bemoaned the soft penalty awarded to Hibs in their 2-2 draw with the Buddies.

Jim Goodwin has words with referee Kevin Clancy after the game

Eamonn Brophy fired the visitors in front shortly before the interval with Paul McGinn equalising early in the second half and Martin Boyle putting the hosts in front from the penalty spot after Matt Millar was penalised for grappling with Porteous. Joe Shaughnessy’s late diving header ensured the points were shared but the Saints boss wasn’t happy at the spot-kick award.

“The big talking point for me was their penalty,” Goodwin said afterwards.

"I hate moaning all the time about decisions but I can only call it how I see it and I think it was an extremely soft penalty.

"There was a little bit of grappling but before Porteous went to ground, Matt moved his arms out to his side to prove to the referee [Kevin Clancy] he wasn’t touching him.”

Goodwin then took aim at the centre-back, claiming the 22-year-old was developing a reputation.

He continued: “Porteous has a habit of winning cheap free-kicks over the years. Some people might say he was clever, but for me the referee needs to see what was going on there and not give a penalty.

"There’s a real frustration because I think we could have won the game if that second goal hadn’t gone against us.

"I thought we had the Hibs fans on their team’s back for large periods of the game. I should probably be really pleased that the players gave everything right to the end and didn’t let the game get away from them because that 15-minute period when Hibs were on top, it could have gone 3-1, 4-1, but they didn’t allow that to happen.

"Great credit to the boys but from my point of view too many big decisions in key moments in games are costing us.

"I know people will say, ‘there’s Jim Goodwin moaning again about officials’ but I’m not bothered by that. Too many times I’ve been diplomatic in the past and I haven’t got any favours for it.

"We’ve had three goals disallowed in the last three games, a penalty given against us today that shouldn’t have been a penalty. These decisions are costing us points.”

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