Ward left stunned

02 February 2011 11:00
Colchester boss John Ward admitted he was stunned after his side had an effort disallowed in the 1-0 defeat at Charlton. Steven Gillespie had the ball in the net only for the referee to blow his whistle for a foul, give the goal after consulting his assistant and then strike it off once more, giving instead a drop ball leaving Bradley Wright-Phillips to net the Addicks' winner shortly afterwards. Ward said: "I've spent 40 years as a player, coach and a supporter of football and I've never seen anything like that, it was quite bizarre. "I saw the ball went through to Steven Gillespie, the referee blew his whistle very softly, but blew it nonetheless, and then Steven put the ball in the net. "The referee got the decision correct because if he blew his whistle then the game has to stop, so I'm not complaining about that, but he's made quite a hash of it. The ref spoke to the linesman who didn't put his flag up and gave the goal, and then the fourth official who spent the entire game sat on a chair got up and told the referee he made a mistake. "He has that power. We were shown two examples both in Columbia and Peru - not in Scotland or England, but very rarely is that exercised, and it's not easy to do that when you're sat in a chair. Had it happened during Chelsea v Liverpool, this would have carried on for at least 24 hours but it probably won't even get a mention."

Source: PA