Stuart King feels Danny Purkis' moment of magic was overshadowed by 'disgrace' of officiating performance

The match swung on two massive calls – both of which went against Carrick – as Kyle Cherry was shown a straight red card in the 16th minute for a late challenge on Jack Malone while Glenavon were handed a late penalty after Joe Crowe was adjudged to have barged Peter Campbell to the floor.

That decision came just minutes after Carrick striker Danny Purkis had scored an undoubted Goal of the Season contender, lobbing Rory Brown from just inside the Glenavon half – something which King feels the headlines should have been all about, rather than controversy.

"That’s what is annoying – I just said to Chris (Morrison, referee) there now that everyone in the country should be talking about Danny Purkis but it’ll be all about you,” he said. "No one is going to talk about Danny’s goal because every Carrick fan is going to talk about the referee giving a penalty kick and us getting beaten 2-1, not Danny’s wonder goal.

"There aren’t many people in this league who can do things like that but it’s all about the referees.”

It’s the second weekend in a row that King feels decisions have negatively impacted his team after Ballymena United were awarded a penalty last Saturday against the ‘Gers when the initial contact appeared to take place outside the area.

"The standard of refereeing has absolutely killed us the last two weeks,” he added. "Last week I got a phone call from Raymond Crangle apologising for giving a penalty that wasn’t and we got beat 1-0.

"I thought we started really well (against Glenavon) and thought we were brilliant.

"We bossed the game and had a lot of chances – Rory Brown is their best player.

"Then we get done by that with a few minutes to go – it’s so, so bad. It’s a disgrace.

"I’m fighting for my life and club week in, week out and my boys have been brilliant. The referees have let them down.”