Ardley Disgruntled With Man In The Middle

Notts County boss Neal Ardley could not hide his anger at referee Samuel Barrott for missing a blatant penalty in the 85th minute of their 1-1 draw with Woking at Meadow Lane.

Kristian Dennis’ 12th goal of the season had cancelled out Max Kretzschmar’s header before Callum Roberts went down in the area under a challenge from Moussa Diarra.

But Barrott waved play on which sparked fury from Ardley, who had watched the incident back, in his post-match press conference.

“I’m not frustrated at my players, I’m frustrated at the man in the middle,” he said. “I’m really angry, that’s as bad a performance as I’ve seen and they don’t really care they just brush you away.

“Cal goes through and the player commits on a slippery pitch, which you should never do. He lifts the ball over him and the defender takes him out. It’s just incredible.”

And it was not just the penalty call that Ardley was confused by. Several of Barrott’s decisions came under scrutiny from the manager.

“He gives a booking to Kyle Wootton for a nothing challenge and then somebody smashes a player the next minute and it’s not a booking, “he said. “I turned around to the fourth official every time and asked a question and he said ‘I agree with you’. Every single question I asked he agreed with me.

“It’s not worth saying anything to the referee (after the game) as you’ll get in trouble.

“The best thing to do is score the referee accordingly which in this case is horrendous, certainly at the end there, and send the footage in.

“What then happens is the league come back and say you’re right it is a stonewall penalty but that doesn’t get us the extra two points.”