Coley blasts ref over his red card call
ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman criticised the referee after he decided to send off Mark Hughes against Morecambe on Saturday.
The Reds were leading 2-0 against the league leaders, but went on to lose the match 3-2 at the Wham Stadium.
Hughes was shown a straight red card just before the interval while the Reds were 2-0 up, and the Accrington boss was disappointed with the decision made by the referee.
“The referee couldn’t wait to give the sending off, I think he was getting bored of the game,” he told the club’s official website.
“We thought Matty Pearson was covering and first and foremost we think there was a foul on Mark beforehand.
“At 2-2 the referee spoke to one of their lads for holding during a set-play, and then when the ball comes in we see a choke slam on Matty, and that would have been 3-2 to us if we were given a penalty and scored it.
“It’s all ifs and buts though. We’ve got to be able to deal with situations that are handed to us and against Morecambe we didn’t. They smelt their opportunity and took it with both hands.”
Despite the defeat, Coleman was fairly pleased with his team’s performance, and thinks that his side have a lot more to offer.
“The worry would be if we were playing terribly, but we know there is more in our locker and we’ll get better,” he said.
“I thought we played well in the second half and controlled the ball quite well. We went down to 10 men and that changed the game.
“We went down to 10 men against Bradford in the EFL Cup though and didn’t concede, and no disrespect to Morecambe but I think Bradford are a better side.
“We were the ones that went to extra time on Wednesday but in the last 10 minutes on Saturday you would have thought it was Morecambe who had, so that’s a testament to our players.”
The defeat puts Accrington in 20th place in the League Two table, with just one win from their opening five games.