Rival boss felt ‘robbed’ at Moss Rose
OLDHAM Athletic Dino Maamria says his team were ‘robbed’ and that he felt ‘disgusted’ after their 1-1 draw at Macclesfield Town on Saturday.
With the score at 1-0 to Oldham, a late penalty was given to Macc after the referee ruled there had been a handball on the line from David Wheater.
It meant Wheater was sent off and the Silkmen scored the penalty, though Latics have since been able to appeal that decision and have the red card overturned.
Maamria was furious with the decision at the time, and didn’t hold back when discussing his thoughts on the referee following the game.
“To be robbed for those two points it’s really hard to take. It’s obvious to see that Wheater clearly back heels the ball and with the referee far from the situation he initially waves play on, no penalty,” he said.
“Macclesfield then gang up on him and he changes his mind and gives the penalty. I don’t understand that. We can’t do anything about it now, we’ve just lost two points and it’s disgusting.”
“I thought the linesman give it because they were speaking over the mics but he just said he changed his mind and apologised if he got it wrong.
“I try to keep my players away from referees, you get in trouble for ganging up on the referee to try and influence a decision but that seems to work. Because five or six Macclesfield players have run across the pitch to get him to change his mind.
“To give the penalty and then the red card for a situation he has not seen as well as the linesman who told me directly. The Macclesfield players got on top of him, he crumbled and he gave the penalty.
“I’m extremely angry, disappointed and upset that we dropped two points. I thought our team especially in the second-half were brilliant.
“I thought our fans were fantastic, they came with numbers. But there’s no consequences to the referee, he’ll be refereeing another game next week but there is consequences for what we do.”