Paul Warne reveals how the Exeter City bench reacted to a rather woeful refereeing decision at Derby County on Tuesday night.
The Rams head coach insisted Will Osula was “wiped out” by the Grecians’ Jamal Blackman, with the on-loan Sheffield United striker clean through on goal in the second half when he knocked the ball beyond the goalkeeper, who clattered into him, yet the referee Adam Herczeg decided to let play on.
Osula was left hurt on the ground, leaving home fans and Warne, his staff, the players and the fans incensed at the decision.
Derby wrote via Twitter: “Pride Park is incensed as Osula latches onto Dobbin’s ball over the top and is wiped out by last man Blackman, who’d come rushing out of his goal, but NOTHING is given by the referee.”
Hmmmmm??? pic.twitter.com/N9LRPqaEtH
— Derby County LA (@DerbyCountyLA) October 25, 2022
It proved the most talked about incident of the night with the League One fixture playing out to a 0-0 draw.
Questioned on Blackman’s challenge on Osula, Warne said: “You’d be amazed to know the answer might be what you think. Whether it’s a red card I don’t know.
“But the quickest player on the pitch has knocked it one side of the keeper and has been wiped out. I cannot wait to find out what the referee and assessor think.
“What I think – and it’s only what I think – is that the Lloris incident with the Newcastle striker the other day, I think he’s watched Match of the Day and somehow decided it is the same thing.
“When their bench is even saying ‘wow’ to you, you know. You’re just standing there thinking what can you do? It’s a big deal. I would not want to be a ref or a linesman and I never hammer them, but there are some things that are like ‘come on’.
“On another night, Will might go through, score, we win 1-0, we’ve not played well but you lick your wounds and learn your lessons.
“We learned if we play like that in the first half then we won’t win many points at all. The back four defended really well, we kept a clean sheet and limited a good side to nothing really in the second half.
“But we didn’t have enough quality in the final third and that’s something we are going to have to help the lads with.”
Two non league sides targetted by vandals
Paul Warne also told his Derby County squad that standards have to improve or be in danger of letting their season “whistle away”.
“I am not going to tell you everything I said, but I just told them how I see football and how I want the players to trust us with their careers,” he said.
“I said it to everyone, but I don’t think you should ever waste a day of your life, a game or a season in your career. If we’re not careful the season is going to whistle away. The standards have to improve and sometimes it’s just from desire.
“I didn’t see any desire in the first half. I will stand here and defend my team if they lose 3-0 and have shown a real desire to win the game. The microcosm of the game for me in the first half was every time we had a throw, we threw it backwards, a cross, didn’t get all the way across and if we did it was too slow and went back to where the thrower was.
“In the second half we threw it across the back, it was quick. It went across to Korey (Smith), he put it down to Nat who crossed it and on another day you might score. That level of intensity in play is the difference between giving yourself an opportunity to win or not. It is as simple as that.
“It doesn’t matter what shape you have or tactics, if you’re not prepared to outrun the opposition you are always going to be in difficulty. We are part of it as the staff, but the biggest thing is I just want the lads to trust us a bit more. We’ve been doing this a while and we think we know what we are doing.”
He maintains that League One is unforgiving if you can’t match hard work and desire.
“I learned quite a lot (about the players),” he said “I was disappointed with some performances, quite obviously. But the nice thing about football is I said to them I will show them the video and I will show the difference between the first half, the second half and why.
“I want to pick 11 players who want to play for me. It felt like, and this is my paranoia, that the first half wasn’t enough and the second half was fine.
“Dobbs could have headed it at goal. When Nat pulled in during the second half, he might have bent that shot in the top corner. That’s the sort of quality we have as players, but you’re not giving yourself a chance to score goals if you don’t play with any speed.
“That’s what I learned and in fairness, they do listen. I shot from the hip at half-time, but there was definitely an improvement in energy and drive in the second half.
“You will have to ask the players this but whether they thought they could just turn up, pass it around freely and win comfortably I don’t know. If they did then that’s a problem because this league bites you all the time.
“Every team will work hard, fight hard and be good on set pieces. If you don’t match that then you are not going to win enough games to have a good season.”
Gary Caldwell gave his thoughts on the draw away at Derby, a game in which he was very impressed with the teams desire and application to get a point in his first game in charge.
“The first half showed a better quality on the counterattack, and they could have got something and in the second half they pushed us back in fairness, but we stood up to that test and I can’t ask anymore from one day’s training,” he said.
“In terms of a start, it was absolutely fantastic.”
Harry Lee was called into action towards the end of the game for his league debut, replacing Jamal Blackman who was forced off with concussion, and Caldwell was pleased for the young shot stopper.
“It is never easy coming on as an outfield sub, but as a goalie they come on the pitch rarely, so for him to come on and be ready mentally in this kind of atmosphere and see out the game and get us that clean sheet, it is fantastic for him.
“This is what League One is, it is a fantastic league, and you get to come to fantastic stadiums like this and we want to come and show ourselves and show we aren’t afraid of anyone.”
This is what Twitter users said as Paul Warne reveals how the Exeter bench reacted to a woeful refereeing decision at Derby…
@RobertDeSilva8: Wanker!!
@JayEcfc: I’m not going to sit here and pretend it wasn’t a foul. FA need to sort out there officials it’s gone beyond the point
@Chrissyh2711: Won the ball play on 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🫣 thats straight from EFL ref handbook
@JackHawker2: Been on a rampage all week has Jamal 😂
@derbyram1968: More woeful officials from the @EFL
@_neil95: What the fuck
@SyBurton: What the actual fuck is going on with refs?!
@FunkyJluraschi: What the fuck is this shit!!! Refs need to fuck right off
@daviddmmosley: @EFL @fa another game another horrendous officiating
@MillerRams67: No foul for Derby ?! #fucktheefl
@swigger67: WTAF????
@CallumWest98: HAHAHHAHAH PLS TELL ME HOW
@harrypdean: We weren’t good enough to win the game tonight but big decisions like this being called incorrectly are happening every game at the moment. When are the referees going to be held accountable? Honestly not good enough.
@jackobradley8: League 1 is a horrible league fuck me, how’s that not a foul and red card 🤣🤣
@RossParker93: Nothing given 😂😂😂😂
@JoshCoyOfficial: Yet again. No free-kick. Becoming an absolute joke now.
@tom_A05: Who gives these refs jobs smh
@TDoe42_: Fucking loves it my keeper 😮💨
@Gas_Panik: Not given….. 😂😂😂 Officials in this league are horrendous.
@JShaww10: Nothing given for that 🤣 these refs are laughable
@DCFC_DDW: BEYOND A FUCKING JOKE NOW
@jackhinks5: I hate this league
@LWalton92: No agenda against us though 🙃🙃🙃
@Will_Odinson: Not a free kick apparently…fuck sake, league one refs are dogshit
@McRams0: So, @EFL @EFL_Comms can you make it a bit less obvious your against us?
@AlexSherwin_: Not a foul 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@1805cam: Un fucking believable they aren’t even trying to hide it at this point are they 😭

You must be logged in to post a comment Login