Lincoln City manager Michael Skubala believes the linesman ‘guessed’ when making the decision to rule out Reeco Hackett’s strike against Wigan Athletic yesterday afternoon.
The Imps began the day just outside the League One play-off places having pulled themselves into contention with a stunning 16-game unbeaten run. They were looking to keep the pressure on sixth-placed Oxford United, who hosted Peterborough United at the Kassam Stadium.
Wigan started the tie the stronger of the two, taking a deserved lead in the 20th minute thanks to an excellent effort from Jonny Smith. Lincoln thought they had levelled through Joe Taylor’s tap in, but the striker was rightly ruled offside. However, Danny Mandroiu levelled matters five minutes before half time to restore parity.
With Oxford comfortably beating Peterborough, the East Midlands side knew they had to go for it. Taylor had another goal chalked off after he mistimed his run before calmly slotting home but the hosts then had a third goal disallowed before Charlie Hughes broke the home fans hearts with a 90th minute winner.
It was that third disallowed strike which has caused controversy though. Lasse Sorenson’s deep cross found Taylor on the byline, who then tapped the ball back into the six-yard box for Hackett to slot home. The linesman ruled that the ball had gone out of play from the Dane’s cross though, with replays showing the decision was incredibly tight.
After the match, Skubala made his thoughts known, claiming that the linesman had guessed before raising his flag for a goal kick:
“They said the ball has gone out of play,” the former Leeds United coach told official club media. “For me, that’s a massive call. That is a huge call because we’re looking at it and we don’t think it’s gone out of play.
“I’ll be really honest, that’s the thing that disappointed me because I’m not sure from where the linesman is standing in that position. I don’t usually go off about linesmen and referees, but that’s a massive call.
“It’s a guess and I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think you can hinge a game like this today on a guess. (If) we go 2-1 up, we could get three points.
“Honestly, I support linesmen, I support referees all the time, but I just think that’s a massive call. If he’s right, he’s right, but huge call.”
It was a result which left Lincoln five points off the play-off places and saw them slip to eighth. They travel to Oxford on Tuesday night in a game where they must win to stand any chance of reaching the top six.
Writer’s View
Skubala’s frustration was evident and it’s easy to see why. If that goal stands, nobody bats an eyelid. Whether the linesman has guessed or not is another matter, but there is no denying that it looked incredibly tight.
Lincoln will feel that they created enough to get the win, although Wigan did look dangerous throughout. They frustrated their opponents and didn’t let them dictate the play, which eventually played into their hands. The Latics were certainly happy to take a point, evident from their time wasting from a very early stage of the second half, but they will be delighted to have been the team to end the longest unbeaten streak in the EFL.
Head of Writing
