Bosses fume with officials

CHRIS HAMON and Colin Fallaize both blasted referee Julian Turian after St Martin's beat Vale Rec in a highly tetchy affair last night. The match saw a penalty for Saints controversially disallowed and then one dubiously given plus a goal that was ruled out by the official in bizarre circumstances. It truly was a comedy of errors for Turian who struggled all game to keep a lid on things, except no one at Blanche Pierre Lane was laughing.

Rec boss Hamon was visibly shaken with anger following the final whistle after witnessing his side go 1-0 up only to see Saints score twice through penalties with the last one coming in extra time.

'That has to be the worst piece of officiating I've ever seen in my life,' he said.

'They should give their fees back. It's disgraceful.

'I'm really lost for words. There's nothing we can do.

'They are a law onto themselves and we can't do anything about it.

'It's getting more and more frustrating to see this going on. You can count the number of decent referees on one hand.'

The visitors had taken the lead on the half-hour mark through their left back Dave Woodhead with a rare jaunt forward. During the first half, Saints felt they deserved a penalty when Will Thompson was brought down in the box, but Turian waved played on, much to chagrin of Saints supremo Fallaize.

Then, five minutes into the second half, Saints thought they had earned their equaliser at a corner when Nick Holley headed the ball away from just inside the far post. The Saints players to a man were convinced it had gone over the line and when Turian blew his whistle they turned around celebrating back to their marks.

Except Turian had blown for an infringement in the crowded box and in the confusion and verbal fracas that ensued, Saints' midfielder Robert Pickford was given a red card for foul and abusive language.

Now a man short, Saints found themselves celebrating for real with 10 minutes left when Thompson again went down in the area, this time squashed between two Rec defenders.

Linesman George Jennings flagged for the penalty and Mauger made no mistake from the spot.

'I can't understand how a linesman who is 30 yards away can give it when the referee was only five yards away,' said Hamon.

'It wasn't even in the box. It was not a penalty.'

There could be no arguments for Saints' second penalty that came about three minutes into added time, when Holley clumsily took Thompson down after the striker had beaten the centre half on the outside. This time Mauger hit the bar and Jody Bisson stopped Thompson's shot from the rebound but he could not keep out Mauger who, on the second attempt, put it past the keeper when the ball became loose.

'We should have had three penalties,' said Fallaize afterwards.

'The one that was disallowed was more of a penalty than I've ever seen. I think the ref should give his money for the match to my charity.

'Hopefully he will go away and learn from this. It's frustrating; they've just got to put more effort into their game.

'I wasn't sure that the equalising penalty was a penalty. I've got sympathy for Chris for that but I think we did enough over the game to win it.'