Hartlepool United manager Kevin Phillips has fumed at two penalty decisions which ultimately cost his side three points against Eastleigh on Saturday.
Although his side sat in 13th place and Eastleigh were in 18th place before the start of the game on Saturday, the match was still a relegation clash as the Pools were only five points off 21st position.
The former England striker was having a rather straightforward day managing his team as Hartlepool took the lead in the 19th minute and had a fair number of chances in the first half. But, the Pools failed to get a second goal and consolidate their lead.
In the 72nd minute, an inswinging cross from Callum Cooke, after a free kick was taken short, was directed towards Luke Waterfall at the far post. The 33-year-old defender was marked by Scott Quigley, who Phillips thinks pushed the former Lincoln City man over.
“He did (have two hands on him),” Phillips told the Hartlepool Mail. “From where we are it looked like he just pushed him over.
“Was he (the referee) ever going to give us one? I don’t think so, even if it was stonewall.
“I’ve seen them given and I’ve seen them not given but being here in front of a home crowd it was never going to happen.
“That was potentially a penalty for us.”
Four minutes later, Pools veteran midfielder Nicky Featherstone was adjudged to have handled the ball when trying to block Chris Maguire’s shot. Maguire scored the penalty to earn the Spitfires a point and frustrate the Hartlepool boss.
Phillips was very outspoken when discussing the penalty given against his team:
“A decision from the ref has cost us three points today.
“I never felt really in danger, I thought defensively we looked solid, then you’re just hoping the referee doesn’t make a crazy decision.
“The reason why I think he’s given it is because you could sense from the crowd that they felt they should have had a penalty earlier on Quigley.
“I said to the players ‘just don’t make a silly mistake, because he’s desperate to give one.’”
“I’d understand if it was a mistimed tackle or something but it was just absolutely ridiculous.
“Feaths [Nicky Featherstone] is only 10 yards from him, he’s hit it as hard as I’ve ever seen anyone hit a ball and it was going over the bar, but he’s given a penalty.
“For me, he’s got that wrong.”
Phillips also received a yellow card during the match for his vocal criticism of Mr. Jackson.
“They say all the right things beforehand about speaking to the fourth official and having a discussion whenever there’s a break in play – it doesn’t happen like that.
“When he (the referee) came over and booked me, he pretty much admitted he got it wrong.
“What’s the point in going in there (to speak with the referee after the game)? They’ve got such arrogance about them and it shouldn’t be like that.”
Writer’s View
Phillips is an inexperienced manager who has been thrown into a ridiculously tight relegation battle in his first spell at a full-time team, but his views after the game against Eastleigh were not entirely agreeable.
Firstly, the penalty which he thought his side should have been awarded in the 72nd minute would have been extremely soft. The National League is a very physical league and therefore there was not enough contact on Waterfall to warrant a penalty.
It is much harder to judge the penalty which went against Hartlepool due to the poor quality of replays available and the melee of players in the box, but the referee has already admitted to Phillips that he thinks he made a mistake. However, to singlehandedly blame the referee for his side losing a win is poor from the manager. The Pools created other chances which were not converted and the Spitfires had a late flurry of chances that should have seen them score another goal.
