‘Victim’ Bowyer berates referee
GARY Bowyer felt Blackpool were “victims” of referee Darren Drysdale as they held in-form Cambridge to a goalless draw.
Drysdale awarded the home side a controversial penalty 15 minutes from time when Tom Aldred tugged back Conor Newton and was sent off.
But goalkeeper Sam Slocombe dived to his right to block Luke Berry’s spot-kick and earn his side a point in an untidy game at the Cambs Glass Stadium.
“It’s never a penalty in a month of Sundays, everybody in the stadium knows it,” said Blackpool boss Bowyer.
“We will appeal the red card and we will be successful. It was a poor performance all round from the referee, and we’ve been the victims.
“But it’s a fourth successive clean sheet, and we could have nicked it at the end.
“We were poor in the first half and I told the players that. But we’ve had a go in the second period against a wellorganised team. The spirit we showed was excellent and it’s a good point for us.”
Cambridge could have been in front early on, but Leon Legge saw his header from a George Maris corner strike the base of the post.
That set the tone for a first period which was dominated by the hosts, with Maris and Berry having efforts saved.
At the other end Mark Cullen’s closerange flick was stopped by Will Norris. And after the restart Blackpool twice came close through Andy Taylor, who saw Norris just about hang on to his cross-shot, before the U’s keeper parried a curling free-kick.
Then came the big chance when Newton and Aldred tussled as the Cambridge substitute tried to reach Uche Ikpeazu’s through ball, and Drysdale pointed to the spot. It looked a harsh decision, but Slocombe stood up well to save Berry’s penalty.
“It’s frustrating in terms of the penalty,” said Cambridge boss Shaun Derry, whose team are unbeaten in eight league games.
“But we’ve come up against a team that doesn’t concede many, and the killer instinct was perhaps missing.
“If Leon Legge’s header had gone in early on it might have been a different story.
“We’ve brought in a couple of players this week, and we’re perhaps going to be looking to the transfer market to boost our numbers again, because in the last 20 minutes we’re looking around and wondering who’s going to give us that bit of magic we needed.”