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Ref incurs Sherdian wrath

Gavin Browne
10/12/2007

LATICS boss John Sheridan confirmed he would be paying referee Dean Whitestone a visit after watching Athletic held to a 1-1 draw by Doncaster Rovers.

The Northamptonshire official gave a penalty when Chris Taylor brushed the back of Paul Green in stoppage time, even though his assistant Mark Heywood had flagged for a free kick.

Discussions between the two ensued and saw Mr Whitestone point to the spot, incurring the wrath of 4,200 home fans as James Hayter gave Rovers an equaliser.

It also earned the referee severe criticism from Sheridan, both in the centre circle at half-time and in the post-match press conference.

He said: "I've seen it on the video and it's a joke decision. It's two yards outside the box and I'm even debating whether it's a foul but I'm going to go in and see him now.

"We could have been 4-0 up and that’s what's peed me off, the game should have been over. I thought our performance was very good, especially in the second half where we got right at them and created a number of chances. Again, we've played a team in the top six, matched them and should have won the game."

Doncaster manager Sean O'Driscoll believed the penalty evened out the goal which gave Latics the lead. Rovers' players thought Lee Hughes had handled the ball when deflecting Mark Allott's shot past Neil Sullivan.

After playing Latics four times in seven weeks, O'Driscoll admitted to being surprised at their lowly league position. He said: "It's the fourth time we've played them and you wonder why they're in the lower half of the table.

"Credit to both sides. It was an entertaining game of football for the conditions and although we thought the first goal was handball, Oldham were disappointed with the equaliser because they thought it was outside the box.

"I thought it (Hughes' goal) was handball. Whether it was deliberate or not is down to the referee but the handball deflected the ball into the goal."