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Bradford cheekily taunt Plymouth while Tom Cleverley vents anger at refereeing decisions

Bradford City cheekily taunt Plymouth Argyle while Tom Cleverley vents anger at refereeing decisions on Saturday afternoon.

The Bantams came away with a 1-0 victory, Antoni Sarcevic calmly converting a penalty to move his side up to second in League One, 34 points from 18 games.

It was awarded after Julio Pleguezuelo pushed Stephen Humphrys in the box. Though Plymouth boss Tom Cleverley vented fury with referee Thomas Parsons.

He claims that two major decisions were wrong (a disallowed Jamie Paterson goal for offside and the awarded penalty), and plans to call EFL head of refereeing Mike Jones to issue a complaint.

The result marked Plymouth’s sixth home league defeat in nine games this season, 23rd with 16 points from 18 games and a point from safety.

Cleverley said, per Plymouth Herald: “I’m quite angry today, to be honest. I thought the referee has got two big decisions wrong that has decided the outcome of a close football match.

“That generally happens to the team that is having a tough time than a team that is having good time. It falls in the way of the team that is having a good time.

“The penalty, I’m not sure which part of the action he has given it for. Pleggy has not made enough contact for him (Humphrys) to go down because he has taken three, four steps longer.

“Then Malachi Boateng has not made any contact for Humphrys to go down. I’m not sure about that one at all. That will need explaining to me when I speak to Mike Jones tomorrow.

“The disallowed goal is onside. For a team who is, yes we are struggling to find the net as much as we need to be, to score a perfectly good goal and get it chalked off is hugely disappointing.

“It has been one too many times now and I can focus on what I need to focus on but now it’s enough, I need to speak to the people who I need to speak to to defend the club from all of these decisions.

“Alex Mitchell was lucky not to have 15 stitches in his head from the challenge on Tuesday night (the 1-0 Vertu Trophy victory over Leyton Orient), no penalty. Okay, we will move on from that one.”

“I have already spoke to Mike (Jones) after the game, I have got a call with him tomorrow, I will find out why the penalty was given,” Cleverley added.

“There is people dedicating their lives to win games for this football club and I need to know the referees are also dedicating their lives to be the best they can be.

“All I can do is my best for the club. What Mike is, he’s honest. He will say ‘hard done by’.

“So you say ‘Right, can we put one of your better referees on our games. Millions of pounds are at stake here and right now the big decisions are determining our results.”

Cleverley also spoke about the game against Northampton when Jordan Thorniley avoided a second yellow card after a foul on Lorent Tolaj and was taken off soon after.

“There is red card after 25 minutes, I’m sure the result doesn’t finish 3-0,” he continued. “Kevin Nolan takes that player off and then what happened, happened.

“Leyton Orient, it’s a stonewall penalty not given. Okay, my player could have ended up in hospital. Luckily he didn’t. It goes on and on.

“Mike is always honest and he normally tries to do the best for refereeing the future games so that’s all I can ask.”

Bradford boss Graham Alexander said: “I am extremely pleased. I am pleased with the ​commitment ​of ​the ​team. ​The ​players, ​I ​thought ​they ​were ​superb, ​getting ​back ​to ​the ​principles ​we ​have ​in ​possession, which ​made ​it ​difficult ​for ​our ​opponents.

“It ​was ​a ​difficult ​game in ​tough ​conditions, ​​against ​a ​side ​who has a ​lot ​of ​quality. The lads came through it and got the three points, which was paramount.

“We ​obviously ​want ​to ​score ​goals, ​and ​we ​want to carry ​lots ​of ​goal ​threat, but the team must remain defensively solid.

“We ​had ​to ​make ​sure ​​we ​got ​back ​to ​those ​sorts ​of ​principles ​​we ​certainly had last ​season​, and ​at ​the ​start ​of ​this ​season. ​I ​think ​we ​were ​​strong ​defensively ​without ​getting ​clean ​sheets, so ​we ​just ​had ​to ​go ​over ​our ​principles ​again.

“Keeping clean sheets in back-to-back games is really promising and the sort of record we want to achieve. It is a good springboard going into Tuesday’s game against Port Vale.”

Twitter users reacted after Bradford cheekily taunt Plymouth while Tom Cleverley vents anger at refereeing decisions…

@the_pieface: We’ve got no hope Tom. Hard watch that.

@vbtspafc: Just absolute nonsense. Uninspiring waffle. Clip up one of the rare home defeat interviews under Schuey and compare. Chalk and cheese. This bloke is clueless, get rid

@vbtspafc: A brief reminder we started this calendar year winning away at Brentford (Jan), beating Liverpool (Feb) and taking the lead at Man City (Mar). We’ve ended it losing at home to Wimbledon (Oct), Northampton (Nov) and Bradford (Dec) – yet we’re not aloud to complain #pafc #Clevout

@CarlBarnard15: Fight? Where? We go 1-0 down and the towel is thrown in and effort erodes. Lacking goals and quality. Still can’t see an identity.

@ArgyleMemes: There’s no togetherness. You can see plain as day that this group of players are not united in playing as a team. No cohesion, no desire and no effort.

@ThebantamsMark: Soft spot for Argyle. Good club with great fans who travel in numbers covering ridiculous miles to follow their team. Gutted that it’s not working for Tom. Bradford lad that I’ve followed since he was a youngster. Really hope you get out of the sh*t folks 👍

@grrooves: They aren’t even trying. Shirking tackles. Not running. Not looking. Not playing for each other. They all want out. And they can all go for all I care. Worst bunch I’ve seen many, many years. Fit to wear the shirt? Nope.

@VinceRennie: Never looked like scoring. I’d love to know what is said at half time because once again the second half is our downfall. Not one good performance in the second half after an ‘alright’ first half. Absolutely pathetic and we know there’s only more to come. Minimum 4-0 on Tuesday

@jbrent01: We had a perfectly good goal in the first half disallowed by the lino for some reason and then the ref in the 2nd half gave a ridiculous penalty. When things aren’t going your way, decisions really go against you!

@StevieWotsa: The standards right across the board right across the board is absolutely heartbreaking Wow, it’s it’s so so sad so sad

@SamDown93: The sad thing is today isn’t even a shock anymore. The even sadder thing is the head coach will have walked out of that ground knowing he’s at zero risk of losing his job. Walking eyes wide open into League Two. #pafc

@Voodoov21: How much does a 1,000 drop in season ticket attendance cost? Food, drink, merch etc. £10k? A 4,000 drop. £40k? Do that for a month and you’ve lost the same amount you need to sack the guy that’s causing the drop in attendance. It’s not rocket science. #pafc

@PlymOSL: I mean this with absolute conviction, bar Tolaj I’d get rid of every single other player if I could today. They’ve all downed tools, and this is without doubt the most unlikeable squad in over 25 years that I have ever watched. Cleverly fucking walk. #pafc

@Dan10PAFC: Makes me laugh it’s always the grumpy old pricks sat in the Lyndhurst that tell every to get behind the team instead of complaining, yet sit there in silence for 80 mins and fuck off 10 mins before the final whistle every game even when winning… #pafc

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