Peterborough Sports boss gives match referee both barrels after defeat at Merthyr - 'he may as well have worn a home shirt'
Peterborough Sports manager Phil Brown claimed his side had to play against 12 men in their National League North game at Merthyr Town on Saturday.
Brown was incensed with the performance of the match referee and suggested he should have worn home colours after making a string of contentious decisions against Sports.
Brown was cautioned towards the end of the first-half and striker Mark Jones was shown a straight red card towards the end of a 2-0 Merthyr Town win.
The veteran former Premier League manager has now urged his players to learn the ‘dark arts.’
“I just couldn’t understand what was going on,” Brown told Peterborough Community Radio. “I can’t even call him a ‘homer’ but the advantage he gave to Merthyr can be measured in yellow cards, a red card and the number of fouls he gave. I don’t know if I’ve upset him in the past or in a former life, but he should have had a white shirt on.
"He was so one-sided in the majority of his decision makings I will say something I will regret. He was their 12th man. I accept a big crowd can act as a 12th man, but we had a referee who was playing for the opposition. The third team (the officials) walked off with a lot of pride in what they’d done, but I was left wondering whether if he’s ever refereed before.
"I’m not there to antagonise the opposition. I set my team up well to play against a damn good side who play great football. It was not as though they needed any help. Maybe they just treat referees well at this club, I just don’t know.
"We still had a chance of getting a draw when Mark Jones was sent off by a man who just wanted to put an emphasis on a home win. I’m not prejudiced against referees as they have a tough job, but he didn’t do his job very well today. I’d say it to his face, but it would be a waste of time going to see him.
“I’m know going to ask my players if they can learn the dark arts quickly as other teams are getting an advantage from using them.
“We played well in the game. I asked the players to show a clean sheet mentality which they did for the most part and to take scoring chances when they come as we know Merthyr do give up chances, but we didn’t do that. We need more belief.
"We lost our way a bit when Marcel Oakley had to go off as he is very good at both parts of a wing back’s role. We will have to learn to deal with big moments better. We face a stiff challenge we have proved there is still life in us. We must just stay together.”
Posh dropped a place to 22nd with defeat. They are two points from safety ahead of back-to-back homes games against Chester next Saturday (Jan 24, 3pm kick off) and FA Cup heroes Macclesfield Town on Tuesday, Jan 27, 7.45pm).