Gaffe referee Shoebridge dropped

16 August 2009 17:54
Referees' chief Keith Hackett has confirmed that Shoebridge has been removed from taking charge of the Championship clash between Plymouth Argyle and Cardiff at Home Park on Tuesday. Palace striker Freddie Sears looked to have given his side the lead after 34 minutes at Ashton Gate when he drilled a low shot into the corner of the net. But the ball bounced back into play after hitting the stanchion and Shoebridge inexplicably awarded a goal-kick with neither himself nor his two assistants spotting the ball had crossed the line. Assistant Chris Knowles has also been handed the same punishment for his part in the incident. Hackett said: "I decide ultimately if they (officials) are taken off a game with (Football League referees manager) David Allison. "There is a match assessor at the game and I am sure he will ultimately mark him (Shoebridge) down and that also has an influence in terms of his ongoing games. "But he was scheduled to do a game in midweek. He won't be doing that. We have been working on that this morning. The ref has been spoken to. "It applies to the referee's assistant as well. Ideally you want the assistant looking from one angle and the ref from another. Therefore between them you want the decision to be right." Former referee Hackett believes Shoebridge will benefit from having a break from the game after his glaring error. He said: "There are two sides to it. You don't want to negatively effect the confidence of the ref but we are also protecting him. "If you are involved in that type of decision, it is good to have a few days away and reflect and we will examine and talk about it and how we can avoid it going forward. "The reality is we have in process a procedure in terms of examining major decisions that influence the game and we review those and we have an accountability procedure. "For all sorts of reasons, referees and assistants will lose games. That is the expectation of the game as whole. "It might seem harsh but we are accountable." Hackett has apologised to Palace boss Neil Warnock and the travelling supporters who saw their side beaten 1-0 by Bristol City. He said: "They are passionate and I apologised they travelled all that way to see a goal ruled out by an error from the match officials." Despite 24 hours to cool down, Warnock was unrepentant on Sunday about his post-match "cheat" comment and felt Bristol City were morally obliged to have allowed his side to score a goal after Shoebridge's blunder. He said: "Nothing has changed. I feel really hurt and almost cheated out of a result. I felt sorry for the lads after all the work and preparation they put in. "We've already got a transfer embargo upon us and we lost Stern John last week in the first game, a striker, so to score goals is hard enough as it is. "The body language of the Bristol players and the fans should have told the referee it was a goal. If it had been at the other end of the pitch, there would have been a riot." Warnock added: "It is not just because it is my game and everyone says, 'If it was the other way around, Neil Warnock would have done the same.' "When Watford and Reading were involved in a similar thing last year, I did say straight away that I felt Steve (Coppell) was wrong. I felt they should have let Watford score a goal. "Refs make mistakes but morally I felt Bristol should have let us score a goal there." Warnock, whose side were beaten by an 89th-minute goal from Nicky Maynard, believes that referees need to be given help if they fail to spot such incidents. He said: "Refs need help if they can't see that is a goal. Refs need help if they can't tell last year in the Watford-Reading game that the ball has gone out of play and is not a goal. "If they can't spot these injustices, they have got to have help." The Football League have confirmed that the game will not be replayed, a scenario that was always going to be an unlikely outcome despite Warnock's frustration. And City manager Gary Johnson was not happy with Warnock using the 'cheat' word when venting his anger. Johnson said: "Cheating is not a very nice word to use especially when we had nothing to do with it except for being the opposition on this occasion. "We knew the ball had gone into the net but we got word that the ref said there was an infringement so there is nothing more we can do. "It happened to us twice last year and it is very disappointing and you have a little moan and you get on with it. I can understand Neil being disappointed but you have to choose your words these days. "But nobody has cheated, nobody means to make mistakes and we had a perfectly good goal on the day ruled out for offside. "That happens. It will happen to us many times and to Palace many times and you are aggrieved and you have got to get on with it."

Source: Team_Talk