SEETHING STEVE IN RAP AT REF ‘SHOCKER’
Penalty row as Cov nick a point
FURIOUS Steve Evans said he felt let down by referee Michael Salisbury following Mansfield’s draw with Coventry.
It looked like Stags would make it six home wins in a row after Kane Hemmings gave them an early lead.
That goal came a minute after the Sky Blues had been reduced to ten men when Jordan Willis was sent off for a foul on Danny Rose.
But Jonson Clarke-Harris levelled from the spot with 19 minutes to go after he had been brought down by Alex MacDonald.
An angry Evans said: “He was awful. The referee gives a penalty, which he is entitled to do. I am speaking with the benefit of looking back at it and it’s not a penalty.
“If he gives that, he must give the one on Ricky Miller. We’ve looked – there is a push – and the handball is in the box by half a yard.
“The referee has been shocking and he will be marked accordingly.
“I thought he was horrendous. He shouldn’t officiate at this level. He’s just come up and should go back to where he belongs.
“I won’t fault my players. We didn’t take our chances and that can happen. On the day, nothing really fell for us.”
However, delighted Coventry boss Mark Robins was left full of praise for the efforts of his players.
“It is a really good battling point for us and we will take that,” said Robins.
“We started brightly but were put on the back foot by one ball over the top that caught us out.
“Danny Rose will go down under the slightest of contacts. We were doubly punished by the ball bobbling in from the free-kick.
“That said, we kept our heads and played some good football.
“We spoke at half-time about staying in the game and we did that.
“We got a way back in with the penalty, which was stuck away brilliantly.
“We fought all the way through.
“We were unfortunate not to get a second goal but we will take the point and move on.”
Conrad Logan beat away Rod McDonald’s header in the second minute as the Sky Blues enjoyed a good start.
But the game turned when Coventry were reduced to ten men on 14 minutes after Willis tripped Rose just outside the box when he was through on goal.
And it got even worse for City when Hemmings scored from the resulting free-kick after McDonald’s shot hit him and sent keeper Lee Burge the wrong way.
Mal Benning beat his man but could only head over from Alfie Potter’s corner on 30 minutes.
Logan tipped over after Marc McNulty showed great persistence to get a shot away four minutes later. Burge then beat a CJ Hamilton shot away with his legs after the Mansfield winger sprung the offside trap on 40 minutes.
Hemmings should have doubled the home side’s lead in the closing stages of the half when he made a real hash of a closerange header.
And Hemmings failed to fully connect with a shot just after the hour mark when in space, allowing Burge to keep Coventry in the game. Battling Coventry were given a lifeline when they won a penalty after MacDonald brought down Clarke-Harris. And the striker – on loan from Rotherham United until the end of the season – dusted himself down to emphatically send Logan the wrong way and level the game on 71 minutes.
Burge turned away MacDonald’s 82nd-minute free-kick as a brave Sky Blues clung on to a muchneeded point.
Rose was booked for what referee Salisbury saw as a dive in the box with five minutes remaining on his watch, much to the fury of an already-seething Mansfield manager Evans.