Referee Mark Haywood’s performance was ‘nothing short of appalling’, says Bolton manager Neil Lennon after the 1-1 draw with Reading at the Macron Stadium.
Eidur Gudjohnsen’s fourth goal since rejoining Wanderers gave them a second-half lead, but Jamie Mackie netted an injury-time equaliser to cost the home side two points.
Lennon was visibly furious with the officiating display throughout the game, and is likely to incur the wrath of the FA with his no-holds-barred assessment.
“It’s not sour grapes but the refereeing performance was nothing short of appalling,” said the Northern Irishman.
“We should have changed the referee, someone from the crowd would have done a better job. They would have been able to keep up with the game better too.
“At one stage he actually awarded us a throw in, Reading then took it and he let play go on.
“There was no protection of our players. Kevin McNaughton is clattered right in front of the linesman early on and play is waved on.
“Some of it turned into a wrestling match, the referee was so inconsistent.”
Wanderers lost three players to injury before half-time, removing Lennon’s options from the substitutes’ bench as the game wore on.
One of these was 19-year-old top scorer Zach Clough, scorer of six goals since the turn of the year, who suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder.
Amidst his rage at the referee, Lennon was thrilled with the way his players coped with the challenges that met them throughout the match.
“I’m very pleased with the way our players performed,” he said. “Considering what we had to put up with tonight, with injuries and refereeing decisions, we did well.
“Losing three players to injury is incredible, I don’t think I have come across that before. But we were brilliant in the second half apart from conceding late on again.
“The all-round performance I couldn’t have asked anymore from. I can’t speak highly enough of the players
However, he did admit his frustration at the last-minute equaliser after already conceding costly injury-time goals to Watford, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool since the turn of the year.
“We’ve got to see the game out. It’s cruel to lose the goal in the way we did, but we have to do better when trying to see games out.
“This is a couple of times now where we’ve been caught out. We deserved a lot better from the game, there’s no doubting that.”
“We shouldn’t get downbeat about things because our performances are improving. We’ll go away, assess where we are and look to our next period of fixtures.”
Bolton next face the 20-mile trip north to Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers, a game pushed back to next Wednesday because of Rovers’ involvement in the FA Cup.
Main image courtesy of Bolton Wanderers via YouTube, with thanks.
