BETTER LEYT THAN NEVER
Ref forgets to play first-half injury time... then adds the extra four minutes to start of second period
REFEREE Alan Young is expected to discover today what the fall-out will be from his half-time howler.
The match official failed to play added time at the end of the first half, taking the Leyton Orient and Hartlepool players off immediately after the 45 minutes was up.
After a series of frantic phone calls between Young, his bosses at the PGMOL, and the EFL, the teams resumed after the break and played out the four minutes that should have been added to the first half.
The League Two sides then changed ends, and kicked off the second half, with Orient going on to complete a crushing 5-0 victory over Hartlepool thanks to a hattrick from Aaron Drinan and goals from Harry Smith and Tom James.
The blunder has been blamed on miscommunication between the team of match officials, with Young realising his mistake after he had led the teams off for the break.
And it is understood the decision to play the remaining minutes before the second half started was taken jointly by the authorities as the best way of preserving the integrity of the competition.
The incident and the referee’s report will be reviewed, along with other controversial incidents from the weekend’s game – and Young will be quizzed about the mix-up.
Hartlepool boss Dave Challinor slammed the referee’s display and his anger was fuelled by Young’s failure to send off Orient skipper Darren Pratley for a 34th-minute hand-ball when the midfielder had already been booked (right).
He said: “After the game I spoke to the referee and he said he’d had a bad day but not as bad as my day.
“That incident with Pratley was a huge turning point in the game. The whole day from that point went downhill.
“After the referee took us off early, their experienced manager takes off the player who should have been sent off.”
Orient assistant manager Joe Gallen said: “The ref made a mistake, he was man enough to own up to it and he tried to find a solution. Hartlepool wanted the additional four minutes played, which was absolutely fine by us, and we just carried on.”