Peters fuming over ref’s decisions

Match reports + Bacup’s first win – page 48

BACUP Borough manager Brent Peters pulled no punches as he slammed the referee following their emphatic 5-0 defeat to Longridge Town.

Bacup came up short in the game at the Mike Rid- ing Ground, and Peters was far from pleased with what he saw.

“Longridge are a good enough team without getting a leg up from the match referee,” said Peters.

“For 37 minutes there was nothing in the game, in fact in this time without doubt we had worked the better positions but disappointingly my front men wasted the excellent opportunities presented to them.

“By this I don’t necessary mean clear shots on goal, but they had the space in behind to exploit, but on too many occa- sions wasted the one-vone situations.

“On the flip side we did have plenty of possession and did work the ball into good areas up until the final third where it mattered the most.

“It wasn’t long before everyone’s attention was focused on the match offi- cial, and it started when Laquan Esdaille approached the official to ask what he had seen wrong with a genuinely good challenge, which the official got wrong.

“The official’s man management skills obviously left a lot to be desired when pathetically he issued my player with a yellow for asking a question.

“Respect is a big thing in modern football which the FA go on about, so I just do not see why a player who respectfully asked the official a question is issued with a yellow.

“It was from this moment on the referee lost the plot completely, and in the eight minutes that followed he failed to give us a free kick right in front of our technical area when Josh Walne was clearly fouled.

“From this it resulted in Thomas Hendley having to take a card for the team as Walne’s man was breaking with the help of the official for not giving us the kick.

“He then gave Longridge a free kick, which it was to be fair, but what I was not happy with on this kick was my lads had given the smallest lad on the pitch the task of marking their tallest man on the pitch beyond the far post.

“This proved to be bad organisation from our point of view so it was not a surprise when the quality delivery was attacked by their biggest lad into the net. At this stage I would have taken a 1-0 deficit going in at half time, and every indications seemed like it would be 1-0 this until the referee decided he needed to be noticed once again.

“After a corner the ball bounced up and struck my defenders hand which was not in anyway in an unusual place, and after what seemed like an eternity he eventually pointed to the penalty spot.

“The comic cuts did not end here, as another corner was delivered and this time their lad is stooping low to head the ball as my defender had made the decision to clear the ball.

“Once again he could not wait to punish us by awarding yet another penalty for what he described as dangerous play.

“It was now 3-0 at the break from two penalties and a free kick, so it was game over – and an excellent game of football was spoilt as a contest by the man in the middle.

“Credit to Longridge in getting the three points, but it was never a 5-0 game. But once the guest in the middle wanted to join in the party of two good sides playing very good football with the score at 0-0, it was a recipe for disaster for us.”

‘Credit to Longridge in getting the points, but this was never a 5-0 game’