Accrington Stanley boss blasts Underhill referee

10:50am Monday 6th October 2008

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JOHN Coleman felt Accrington Stanley’s chances of breaking their long winless run were not helped by the appointment of an inexperienced referee at Barnet on Saturday.

Isle of Wight official James Linington has only joined the Football League list this season and upset Stanley with some of his decisions at Underhill.

Coleman was a frustrated figure on the touchline for much of the game, which Barnet won 2-1 to extend Stanley’s run without a victory to seven matches.

The Stanley boss was aggrieved by the red card shown to Robbie Williams for a professional foul inside the box after Albert Adomah had been played through.

Coleman also thought Barnet’s second goal should have been disallowed for a foul on goalkeeper Kenny Arthur and felt it was not the first time this season his side had been hampered by refereeing decisions.

The perturbed Reds chief said: “Unfortunately we’ve had a lot of inexperienced referees and I think we’ve paid the price again.

“I think it won’t be the last time we suffer at the hands of an inexperienced referee.

“I’ve no complaints about the penalty, although I’ll have to see it again.

“My first thought was he was going to send him (Robbie Williams) off but if you think about it logically, the lad’s stood behind Robbie so he hasn’t played him onside.

“Someone else must have played him onside, so that takes away the fact that he’s the last man.”

Stanley fell behind inside 27 seconds but levelled before Jimmy Ryan missed a chance to put them in front.

Of the opening goal, Coleman said: “It was a silly goal to concede and but we rallied round after the first 20 minutes and absolutely pummelled them for 25 minutes until our deserved equaliser.

“Again, we’ve missed a great chance to take the lead like we did last week and then we’re punished with the second.”