Dino sore as Boro have two sent off
DINO Maamria blasted the officials after being sent to the stands and seeing his Stevenage side have two men sent off in a defeat at Tranmere.
The Boro boss was dismissed following an altercation with referee Eddie Ilderton at half-time, while Ben Nugent and Elijah Adebayo received their marching orders in the second half.
Maamria was fuming with both red cards, and also accused Rovers of manipulating the officials before the game.
“Tranmere probably won the game in the referee’s dressing room at 1.45,” he said. “They do this handshake with the referee and captains before the game. I sent my assistant Steve Gettings.
“Their assistant Mike Jackson complained straight away about the referee for their game on Tuesday night. It was poor to allow him to do that. It was bizarre.”
Nugent picked up two yellow cards, his first for dissent before diving in on Connor Jennings in the second half.
Adebayo was then dismissed in injury time for elbowing Mark Ellis, although Maamria insists it was a clash of heads.
And of his own sending off, he said: “I thought it was the 49th minute they scored in. They put three minutes [added time] up. I walked to the referee to ask him why he played four minutes and he told me ‘you’re not allowed to come inside the pitch at half-time’.
“I didn’t know that. He didn’t red card me, but said I had to watch the second half from the stand.”
Kieron Morris grabbed the first goal, nodding home at the back post from Jennings’ clipped cross.
And then James Norwood completed the scoring after the break when he rounded the keeper and fired high into the net from a tight angle.
Micky Mellon was relieved to see his side’s poor run come to an end, adding: “We must give the lads great credit for the performance.
“We have, quite rightly, taken a lot of criticism because we haven’t won games.
“We knew we had to man up and try and get that first goal and keep a clean sheet. All credit to the boys and staff for doing that. They put in a great performance, but we’ve got to keep them going. The mentality was the big thing, from the first minute to the last.”