Bradford City manager Graham Alexander has criticised the referee following his side’s 2-1 defeat against Walsall yesterday afternoon.
The Bantams headed to the West Midlands hoping to build on the 2-1 victory over Carlisle United last weekend having fallen to a disappointing reverse against struggling Grimsby Town in the fixture prior. They went into the clash at the Bescot Stadium well-placed in League Two, with their opponents looking to bounce back from a 1-0 loss at MK Dons.
Walsall took the lead from the penalty spot through Taylor Allen before Olly Sanderson restored parity seven minutes before the break. However, with the game heading towards a draw, Danny Johnson scored a late winner to hand the home side the three points.
Following the game, Bradford boss Alexander admitted he was disappointed with the performance of the man in the middle. The 52-year-old was scathing in his assessment, claiming that the referee seemed to hand decisions to the home side that were not replicated to his players:
“There wasn’t an inconsistency,” he told the Telegraph & Argus. “There was a consistency.
“We got nothing in 50/50 duels. Both teams had a big striker – one was allowed to compete, one wasn’t, so it was quite consistent throughout the game.
“I’m asking the players to compete at a better level than we did at Grimsby and we have done since then. But we weren’t even allowed to compete.
“It was ridiculous. I managed Jamille Matt at Fleetwood and he’s exactly the same type of player as Vadaine Oliver.
“There wasn’t one foul given against Jamille Matt today and yet Vadaine’s on for about 10 minutes and there must have been three or four.
“He’s getting dragged to the floor and they give free-kick after free-kick. It was a nonsense.”
Despite directing his anger at the match official, Alexander did admit that he did get things wrong from the off, but his players recovered tremendously from a poor start and injuries suffered throughout the game:
“I’m gutted for the players because they deserved more from today.
“We played into their hands for the first 20 minutes, so I’ll take the blame for that.
“We didn’t put enough pressure in behind their backline and then we conceded the penalty when Byrner is carrying an injury.
“He said it was cramp at first and wanted to go back on. He wanted to give it five minutes but you could see when the game restarted, he was holding it a little bit.
“I turned to the bench to take him off but unfortunately in that action we conceded the penalty.
“We tweaked a couple of bits and came back into the game and got into the final third a lot more.
“Jamie again turns the ball over with a great press and it’s a good finish from Olly.
“Unfortunately, we lost Ciaran as well with a twisted ankle in a challenge.
“We had to change the shape of the team at that point and I thought the players were excellent with it.
“They weathered a bit of a storm at the start of the half but then we took control of the game. That’s why we made a change at the end – we wanted to score the winner.
“But there were things in that game that we just can’t control.”
Writer’s View
Once again, the standard of officiating in League Two has come under scrutiny. Alexander says the referee was consistent in terms of his decision making, penalising his team in areas where he didn’t penalise Walsall. He perhaps has a point, with Bradford conceding double the amount of fouls to that of Walsall.
We’re unfortunately in an era where any criticism of officials is deemed unacceptable and it is likely that the Bantams boss will be on the receiving end of a fine. However, he will perhaps care little about that, doubling down by revealing that the PGMOL failed to turn up to a manager’s meeting.
Head of Writing
