Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough again hits out at string of costly decisions against his side by match officials
Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough has again complained that contentious decisions made by match officials are costing his side precious points.
A string of crucial decisions have gone against his injury-hit side in recent weeks and he does not believe in luck equalling out over a season, saying all he wants to see are the right decisions being made.
Clough has tried to get a national campaign going to get those at the top to better equip their officials, but a baffling decision by referee Elliot Bell to rule out a Baily Cargill goal last weekend at AFC Wimbledon was the latest setback for him.
“It is tough at the moment with the players missing and the lads are going out there and battling for everything as we saw on Saturday,” he said.
“We have watched the disallowed goal back from the long throw-in and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it at all.
“That has been the case in recent weeks – the big decisions going against us.
“You look at the two against Bolton – the sending-off, where Rhys has slipped, and the handball in the last minute - they could have changed the result.
“And then you look back to Northampton and that incredibly soft penalty as well as the foul on George Maris leading up to their first goal.”
He continued: “It's very strange actually as that was the same referee we had at Wimbledon as we had at Northampton, only five weeks apart.
“When you've had a couple of issues with the referee, as we had at Northampton, it is very puzzling why we should get him again so quickly.
“Usually you get referees maybe twice a season, split over the first and second half.”
He added: “We might have had four or five more points on the board which would have put us in a nicer position.
“I don't think these things even out over the course of a season – we have seen that over the last few seasons. You either get them or you don't.”
Clough stressed he was not looking for favours from officials – just accurate decisions.
“We don't want anything in our favour,” he said.
“People may think we are moaning because we want decisions. No, we just want the correct decisions, even if they are against us.
“I remember at Stevenage last year when Baily Cargill should have been sent off. I said afterwards he should have received a red card.
“It was a professional foul and the lad was going clear on goal, but for some reason they gave him a yellow, which was the wrong decision.
“As grateful as we were at the time, we don't want that. We want the correct decisions, nothing else.”
Clough disagreed with the red card for Oates against Bolton and was even more appalled that nothing seems to have been done about Bolton players surrounding the referee to try to influence his decision.
“With the history of appeals we decided not to appeal against the red card,” he said.
“We just thought it was more the responsibility of the referee at the time to acknowledge Rhys had maybe slipped.
“We have not heard anything from the FA about the surrounding of the referee by seven or eight Bolton players. I think even their keeper came out 25 yards to approach the referee.
“It was exactly the scenario we were shown at the start of the season as a warning that disciplinary action would be taken if your team have more than one or two players surround the referee.
“But we have not heard anything from the FA about that.”