Northampton Town manager Jon Brady has revealed his frustration of a number of decisions during last night’s 2-1 defeat against Lincoln City.
The Cobblers made the trip to the LNER Stadium in their best form of the season. Saturday’s 3-0 win over Crawley Town was their second success in three outings, with a 1-1 draw against Stockport County sandwiched by the two victories. Another three points would have seen Jon Brady’s team climb to the fringes of the top half and they looked good value when they took the lead in just the second minute through Tariqe Fosu’s deflected effort.
That was as good as it got for the away side though. Lincoln dominated the remainder of the first half and were rewarded when Tom Hamer equalised in the 18th minute.
The second period was a more even affair, but the pendulum swung hugely in the hosts favour with 15 minutes remaining when Tyler Roberts was shown a second yellow card after punching the ball away in frustration after Lincoln were awarded a thrown in.
Michael Skubala’s team eventually made their one-man advantage pay in the 88th minute when Erik Ring scored his first goal for the club.
Brady Angered By Decisions
Following the game, Brady admitted he agreed with Roberts’ second yellow, although questioned his first whilst also criticising other decisions:
“The first yellow card is a 50-50 duel in the middle of the pitch,” he told official club media. “He goes in with a shoulder but the ref books him.
“But the ball’s out of play and it’s inexcusable when you’re on a yellow card. OK, the first one is unjust, but the second one is a yellow card.
“But you go back to the first one. It’s a shoulder-to-shoulder. That’s just football. But the ill-discipline is really frustrating. You can’t do that. You’re a professional footballer, you’re away from home and we need him on the pitch.
“All night it had been building. It looked like he should have had a penalty in the first 15 minutes when he goes through on goal. We’re told that the ball has gone but it hasn’t gone and he gets absolutely taken out by the goalkeeper.
“Foxy’s (Ben Fox) blatantly being pulled and the guy hooks his arm for their first goal. The game at the moment is hugely frustrating. I think the standard tonight… well, I’ll leave it at that with the officials.”
Writer’s View
Referees decisions are called into question in every game. Brady has a point with the early penalty decision but it’s hard to make a case for his assessment of Lincoln’s first goal. That kind of thing happens during every corner. The frustration is the consistency surrounding these kind of decisions. As for the red card, punching the ball away when he was already on a yellow is just madness.
Head of Writing
