Peterborough’s Darragh MacAnthony urges for better EFL referees with stronger stature

Peterborough’s Darragh MacAnthony urges for better EFL referees with stronger stature and for them not to be pressured into decisions.

He couldn’t understand why the game against Bolton played over the six minutes added on, with the Trotters scoring the winning goal in the 99th minute.

Substitute Klaidi Lolos netted a dramatic stoppage-time winner after Dion Charles’ penalty and follow-up header had been kept out by Nicholas Bilokapic.

Grabs on Posh centre-back Emmanuel Fernandez at the other end had been ignored, with Darragh, who said Bolton were ‘superb’ and deserved a win, felt the standard of officiating this season overall has been poor.

The Posh chairman said via his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast, transcribed by Peterborough Today: “This is not sour grapes as Bolton were superb, They were better than us on the day and too many of our lot were below par. We will see them down the road. They will be up there at the end of the season as we will be.

“I also don’t want this to be interpreted as just a dig at officials. They have a really tough job. you have to be brave to take it on. I don’t want fines from the FA. I’ve only had one in 19 years, but I want to see better referees. I want to see referees with a stronger stature and referees who have more about them. I want to see referees who can stand up to the pressure of a big crowd.

“I want the EFL product to be spot on. I want the TV coverage on Sky to be better and I want better referees. We have a product to sell. If my team doesn’t perform to the right standard I will say so in public, but referees need to be judged by those standards as well. None of the referees I’ve seen this season are going to end up in the Premier League. The training can’t be good enough. I know it’s a tough gig and I want to help them anyway I can, but I am sure if Saturday’s referee looks himself in the mirror, he would say he didn’t have his best day.

“He was going to play 96 minutes and it was the right thing to do to blow his whistle then, but he lets a corner be taken and 90 seconds after time he decides to give a penalty because he deemed something had happened. At the other end I wonder what he would have done? Every time Manny Fernandez was up in their penalty area he was rugby tackled. The referee started booking our players at full-time, but it’s no wonder they were upset as he’d just ripped the heart out of them after 97 minutes.

“There had been no time wasting in added time. The talk about the time-wasting from our players in the 90 minutes was nonsense anyway. We had one young lad go down with cramp and he went off. Manny went down after a Bolton player accidentally stood on his foot. He had the physio on and had to go off which meant we didn’t have our biggest defender on the pitch for a set-piece. Our goalkeeper was down because he felt he’d turned his ankle. We weren’t winning the game and we don’t want 0-0 draws. Peterborough want to win games especially at the bigger clubs so we won’t be wasting time.

“We were at Birmingham and we had a player booked after 20 minutes because he moved away from a free-kick to let the goalkeeper take it. There was a big crowd at a big club who started roaring about time wasting so the referee acted.”

Darren Ferguson said, per Bolton News, that his Peterborough side were cost by a “horrendous mistake”.

“The game we are involved in can be very cruel, as it showed today with the last kick of the ball.”

“As managers, players and fans, this is what we are up against with the standard and quality of the officials.

“Watching it back, the linesman has to stand on the line to obviously see if there is any infringement.

“Charles has made the kick, Nick saved it and he has ran back out the way so he can’t see anything.

“I just spoke to the assessor and he said he has made a horrendous mistake. If he stands where he is, it is a handball.

“I am told it is the last kick of the ball, he has three attempts at it. I am told it is 96:30 because of the substitution and they get the corner on 97:02. They are miles away, the standard.

“They are a good team, Bolton. They will be in the top six, no question, with the amount of money they have spent and the amount of players they have. They have got good quality in their team,” he added.

“When you come away from home, sometimes what you might get is you are not brilliant on the ball or perfect in possession, and we certainly weren’t second half.

“First half, I thought we were good. If you get that, you have to have determination to make sure get a clean sheet. We showed it today and deserved a clean sheet.

“It has taken the referee’s awful decision… not the penalty so much, but after that or before that in terms of the time.

“I just said that is the starting point and if we can show that desire and determination, with the quality we have got, we will win lots of games.”