Crewe boss sees red over ‘terrible’ referee in defeat
FRUSTRATED Crewe Alexandra manager Dave Artell says his players have to learn from their mistakes after their hopes of staying in League One were dealt a blow in a 4-1 defeat to Burton Albion.
“We didn’t make good enough decisions on the ball, we had too many players have poor games really,” said Artell.
“In patches, I thought we played well. I thought, whenever we passed the ball to each other, we looked like a good team but we did it sporadically and not enough. Goals change games, so we were always chasing the game.”
Artell was ordered to the stands at half-time after taking issue with referee Peter Wright over a throw-in decision and then an apparent foul on Callum Ainley that was not given, both of which led to Burton goals.
“I said to him at half-time, I think you are the worst referee we have seen,” said Artell.
“There was a foul in the build-up to the third that is a caution, we were on a promising attack. “Then there was a foul throw and then there was a throw-in to us. You can’t get those wrong, they weren’t difficult decisions.
“I said that to him at half-time and, 15 minutes later, he said, ‘right you can’t go back on the pitch’. “I have just gone in to see him and the fourth official said I questioned his integrity. I didn’t question his integrity, so we will see what the report says.
“I never swore at him, I wasn’t angry, I just said I think you were terrible.
“I don’t think he had a good game. Did we lose the game because of him? It certainly didn’t help. “I have just had a really good chat with him actually for 20 minutes, trying to help him and he was giving me pointers, so don’t think I am ref-bashing by any stretch. I am not but he gave some poor decisions and it cost us goals. “But it is not the reason why we lost the game. It didn’t help but we have to be better in possession, that is the main thing.”