MK Dons 1 Hartlepool 0
Sep 6 2010 The Journal
MICK Wadsworth accepts refereeing is a thankless task, but was left bewildered by the manner in which Craig Pawson got a game-changing decision wrong on Saturday.
With his side trailing at Milton Keynes Dons, Pool midfielder Antony Sweeney was ready to knock in an 88th-minute leveller.
Instead, minutes after home captain Dean Lewington was red-carded for denying Leon McSweeney a goalscoring opportunity, defender Sean O’Hanlon tugged at Sweeney’s shirt, sending him to the ground inside the six-yard area.
Penalty? Not according to Mr Pawson.
“I’m sure the referee hasn’t done it with any malice,” said Wadsworth. “He just hasn’t seen it as a penalty. He had to rely on his linesman for the sending off so you have to question his positioning.
“But it’s not the easiest job in the world. I wouldn’t have it for a gold monkey. There’s so much scrutiny.
“But it would have given our players and our supporters what they richly deserved – which was a result.
“Their manager came to me after I’d done an interview and Karl (Robinson) came and said it was a definite penalty. That’s jolly decent of him. He’s a bright young guy.”
Sweeney added: “There you go, it says it all that their manager reckoned it was a penalty – it’s not very often that happens.
“I’d like to think the chance was there for me to score, I was just waiting to whack the ball in and I was pushed over. He knocked me off balance and I couldn’t get enough on it.
“Everyone thought it was a penalty except the main man, the referee. Maybe the sending-off influenced the decision and he didn’t want to be seen to be too much against the home side.”
Pool were left to stew over a second successive League One defeat.
The game wasn’t much of a spectacle for the Saturday lunchtime Sky viewers. Pool went close through Evan Horwood and Ritchie Humphreys in the first-half, the home side when Jermaine Easter’s one on one chance was blocked by Scott Flinders.
The goalkeeper was beaten on 77 minutes. Pool lost possession, Luke Chadwick lobbed the ball over the flimsy offside trap for Sam Baldock and Lewis Guy was on hand to tap in.
That meant Pool finally had to go on the front foot and, after Lewington’s dismissal and Sweeney’s penalty shout, Sam Collins bundled wide from close range on the counterattack.
“I cannot criticise the players, efforts, endeavour or togetherness. We’ll do OK this season. I’ve absolutely no doubt about that,” said Wadsworth.
“The players have responded very well from Sheffield Wednesday and I thought it was a very good performance albeit we’ve come away with nothing.
“They had possession but too much possession can be dangerous sometimes, we dealt with it very well apart from the critical incident of the goal. They lost a guy which gave us an obvious advantage and it meant that we could throw people forward. We needed to anyway because we were losing the game.”
MILTON KEYNES DONS: Martin, Woodards (Carrington 43), Doumbe, O’Hanlon, Lewington, Chadwick, Hamann (Guy 72), Leven, Balanta, Easter (Ibehre 72), Sam Baldock. Subs (not used): Searle, Chicksen, Daniel Powell, Johnson.
Sent off: Lewington (84).
Goal: Guy 77.
HARTLEPOOL: Flinders, Haslam, Collins, Liddle, Horwood, Sweeney, Yantorno (Larkin 87), Murray, Humphreys (McSweeney 81), Monkhouse, Boyd (Behan 62). Subs (not used): Mooney, Austin, Mackay, Hartley.
Booked: Monkhouse, Murray.
Attendance: 7,656
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
