COUNTY BOSS ANGRY OVER PENALTY CALL
JAMES Rowberry was furious with referee Carl Boyeson’s second-half decision to award a penalty against Mickey Demetriou which put Rochdale out of sight at Spotland Stadium.
Newport County were just starting to find their feet after a horror start, but there was no way back after man of the match Jake Beesley hammered home the spot-kick to bag his second goal of the game.
Beesley notched up his first in the second minute, had another goal written off for offside and then laid on the third for Liam Kelly to end a four-match unbeaten run for Rowberry’s side.
But County’s boss believes things could have ended differently had Boyeson not awarded the penalty in the 72nd minute, and went up to him at the end of the game to ask him why he had made his controversial decision.
“I felt we were in control of the game until the penalty, which disappointed me. I don’t think it was a penalty on two counts,” said Rowberry.
“I’ve looked back on it and Mickey gets bowled over and then he gets the ball. I have to be very, very careful what I say because I don’t want to get fined and I want my kids to have presents for Christmas.
“I went to see the referee at full time to ask him why he gave the penalty but he wouldn’t give me an answer and kept walking away. Then they got security over for a reason I don’t understand.
“The decision changed the game for me. Then we were chasing it and we made a mistake as a team for the third goal, which happens.”
Rowberry was forced to make tactical changes at half-time to stop Rochdale’s effective counter-attacking play and was banking on another comeback show from his side to keep them flying high in the table.
But as well as causing huge problems for County’s defensive unit, the home side also managed to snuff out the threat of League Two top scorer Dom Telford, who failed to score for the first time in nine matches.
“You can’t take any credit away from them. They are a good team and they were excellent in transition,” said Rowberry.
“We didn’t cope well enough with them on the counter attack. We controlled things a little bit better after we changed things at half-time.
“They’ve had eight shots and we’ve had 12, we controlled the game with the ball, but we didn’t control both boxes. The first 20 minutes of the first half disappointed me the most. We were outdone in central areas and they overloaded us particularly well.
“We rectified that a little bit with a change of shape, but ultimately we didn’t defend well enough as a team. That’s what cost us the game.”
County are due to host league leaders Forest Green Rovers on Boxing Day and Rowberry will be seeking an immediate reaction from his team if the game goes ahead as they fight to stay in the promotion race.