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Crewe v Notts County ‘nearly abandoned’ as linesmen refuse to officiate in front of angry fans

Crewe v Notts County ended up ‘nearly being abandoned’ as both linesmen refuse to officiate in front of angry fans in the away end.

A penalty from Courtney Baker-Richardson gave Crewe a dramatic 1-0 win over fellow League Two promotion hopefuls Notts County.

Baker-Richardson netted the 98th minute penalty kick after Magpies winger Jodi Jones had been adjudged to have handled Ryan Cooney’s volley, but there was delay in the assistant raising his flag.

There are reports however that a number of objects had been thrown at the officials and steward, while chants of “cheat” and “w*****” could be heard from Notts County fans.

After the linesman refused to run the line, that League Two fixture had no choice but to stop.

There was then further issues after the other official refused to swap sides, so Notts County players went over to try and calm their own supporters down, with game getting back underway in the 109th minute.

Police quickly turned up to reinforce match stewards in an attempt to control the disorder.

Assistants Darren Wilding and Danny Gratton, concerned by what was unfolding, were protected by officers, while other members of uniformed officers stood in front of the Notts County fans.

Players and match officials went to their dressing rooms amid the trouble.

Ex-Notts County player Mark Stallard, a summariser for BBC Radio Nottingham, said: “It looks as if the assistant referee was struck by something from the Notts fans behind him.

“That’s unacceptable if that is the case. The frustration is understandable it’s a passionate game, but that behaviour is unacceptable.

“The ramifications will come, that is not what Notts County are about as a club. It’s unfortunately a blemish and they will serve some sort of punishment.”

– Assistant referee awarded spot-kick shortly after referee Simon Mather went off with hamstring injury

– Ref’s assistant struck by object thrown from the crowd 

– Subsequently moved to the other side of the pitch when the match resumed for the final 30 seconds after a lengthy delay.

– Police and stewards went onto the pitch to deal fans who had gone onto the playing surface after the penalty and the situation with the official

Crewe (3-4-3): Davies; O’Riordan, Offord, Demetriou, Adebisi, White, Thomas (Billington, 84), Cooney;  Tracey (Colkett, 76), Rowe (Finney, 76), Baker-Richardson.

Subs not used: Booth, Agius, Billington, Nolan, Robinson.

Booked: Offord, Cooney.

Notts (3-4-3): Slocombe; Macari, Baldwin, Cameron; Nemane (Randall, 75), Austin (Gosling, 80), O’Brien, Jones; Langstaff, McGoldrick, Crowley.

Subs not used: Stone, Brindley, Rawlinson, Adebayo-Rowling, Morias.

Booked: O’Brien, Baldwin, Jones, Randall

Referee: S Mather.

Interviewer: Well, that must feel like a real kick in the stomach the way the game ended can you just fill in the blanks as to why the penalty was given?

Luke Williams: Handled, that’s all I know is handle so have to accept it.

Interviewer: It was all a little bit chaotic stoppage time with the the fourth official having to come on and take over the reigns

Luke Williams: Yeah it was a shame I mean no one can do anything about it the referee got uh he pulled a muscle or something so you know there’s nothing you can do about that situation I think probably it benefited the opposition more than us because I think we was in a a good place and I think the opposition at that point are trying to see the game out and then have like five minutes or more to recover and and then they capitalised brilliantly on that. They made a really energetic counter-attack and and then we gave away our penalty

Interviewer: Yeah bodies trying to get back it’s Jody Jones who’s been penalised

LW: Yeah

Interviewer: And from your perspective did it look did it look handball?

LW: I’m a long way away it looked like, I think from my recollection I haven’t seen it you know I’m out here really quick but it looked like um the ball is is bouncing and Jodi tries to anticipate the ball is going to bounce to hit him and the opposition player kicks the ball and it goes underneath his arm

Interviewer: You can never say for certain what’s going to happen on a day everybody said two of the highest scorers in the division there’ be lots of goals yet it was a a more tight affair than that

LW: Yeah it was a drab game and you know very little uh to get excited about and uh yeah unfortunate really I think we was hoping for a better better performance but we didn’t quite hit the levels today

Interviewer: Did the way they approached it surprise you at all?

LW: We prepared as best we could but I think we we didn’t um yeah there’s a few things that we we we didn’t anticipate um I think the first half it was was quite difficult for us I think in the second half I don’t know for sure until I watched the game back uh but it felt to me like we dominated the second half and we we tried to we kind of threw everything I think um at them and they defended brilliantly and like I said I think that the break in play came at a really tough time for us but we ultimately we haven’t done enough to win the game and um you know breaking play you have to you have to stay focused and switched on and then see the game out the worst case scenario should be for us a 0-0

Interviewer: You got Jodi more into the game second half

LW: Yeah I think um they’ve done a very good job of trying to suffocate our attacking players and they’ done that brilliantly but I think increasingly it was getting more difficult for them and the space has opened up and I think that it’s important that the players for me when they’re having a tough day in terms of opposition stifling their space and um being being aggressive in the press and that they have to stay focused and then if the game opens up they have to be ready to to try and exploit the space that is is opening up in the game and I think in the second half for the majority I think Jodi caused a lot of problems and he made a lot of direct actions towards the box and so did Dan and so did Aaron and I think will will random came on and he tried to drive it goal and create problems so yeah I think uh we done everything we could but it wasn’t enough to win the game

Interviewer: Jim O’Brien started the last four games today was his 100th start for Notts County he’s got one heck of an engine hasn’t he

LW: Yeah he has but we need to help him as well because obviously we lost Matty and uh John has been sidelines, guys that regularly play in that in that midfield position and Dan Gosling is obviously is not quite ready to help out as much as he can Sam Austin is doing a brilliant job I think he’s not like the perfect fit for him there so yeah we need some we need some guys back in the the bottom of midfield for sure

Interviewer: I know every week’s a challenge of sorts is this you toughest period since you came tonights oh absolutely

LW: Yeah this is this is very very tough but you know I I have an opportunity to show another side of of my character that I don’t want to I don’t want to think of myself as made of sugar you know so yeah it’s tough but we you know we’ve done very very well up to this point and we are having a tough time and if we can’t stand up to that then we’re not the team that we thought we were

Interviewer: The media team have teased one or two photos of John Bostock and Adam Chicksen training this week are they getting close and if so how close

LW: Yeah no they are getting close and I think both will be involved very soon and of course we have to then make sure that we don’t you know we don’t put them there and expose them to something that they’re not ready for so we have to as much as we feel anxious we have to try to be careful to get them back on the pitch correctly

Interviewer: And obviously the next game is at Meadow Lane lunchtime kickoff against Bradford next week you already knew you were going to be missing Jodi but I think he’s picked up a fifth yellow card today as well

LW: Yeah so okay but we have other guys that are ready to come in so we need to have a good week and uh prepare well for the game and make a good performance

Interviewer: Can see this one hurts thanks for joining us

Here’s how fans reacted with Crewe v Notts County ‘nearly abandoned’ as linesmen refuse to officiate in front of angry fans…

@Joeytaylor123: What’s the copper going to do in that situation 🤣🤣

@LukeyITFC: Now can you be nice to the referee please lads he can’t help being bullied every week give him a break or your nicked

@joegibney15: Long story short – ref did his hamstring in injury time as Notts County were on a break. Replacement ref later gave penalty, scored. County fans seething. Linesman not keen on being near them. Offer made to swap linos, but other lino not keen on the idea either!

@MattyWebber88: Notts County fans protest as ref refuses to grant win based on xg, possession and elite passing style; instead opting for the old fashioned “most goals scored” 🫠

@ArchieCFC13: No way a notts county fan has assaulted a linesman at Crewe today😂😂

@RichardWhite21: Notts county fans assaulting the linesman cause he gave a wrong decision. Deary me.

@RedRector: Sour end to a match we should have won, 2nd H all Notts, tho’ few chances created. Then on 90m Ref goes off injured as Notts attacking. Deep into stoppage time a contentious penalty decision by 4th official, after late flag. Reaction not good from either set of fans. 1-0 98m. Crowd disturbances, & Asst-Ref who gave the pen allegedly hit by object. Crewe fans pitch invasion. After 15 mins re-started, Asst-Refs changed sides, but no time for equaliser. A draw would’ve been a decent result. No doubt repercussions for Notts. Down to 5th. COYP. Avanti.

@DanielTuckwood1: What a club 🖤🤍

@ShaunReid19: Took losing well then. Was walking the league when super Dan signed 😂😂👍🏻

@MaxHargreaves15: Christ 😭😭

@ddodds2293: Had some bad decisions before but can’t carry on like that can you. Just call him a wanker and leave it at that

@eldonklover: embarrassing set of fans

@allmoshnopit: Fuck fines it will mean nothing to them. Deduct points

@adam1862_: We’re gonna get done for failing to control supporters, but they won’t look into why what happened, happened. Referees in this country are a joke #Notts

@CallumBramwell: What an absolute shambles this is #notts

@ReddogMUFC: Notts County fans lost their shit 🤣🤣🤣

@JamesH_CAFC: Have to add that the behaviour of the Notts County fans was nothing short of a disgrace at the end. If we had gone away, had a penalty awarded against us in the 94th minute, we’d have just been annoyed at our bad luck, not cause trouble like they did. No need for that whatsoever

@RedAlexCrewe: A50 closed due to serious flooding, cause thought to be #notts fans tears #crewealex

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