Salford manager Karl Robinson claimed he had no trust in one of the assistant referees after winger Hakeeb Adelakun was sent off early on in his side’s 4-0 loss to Chesterfield.
Adelakun was shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball tangle with opponent Jack Sparkes, which left the Chesterfield left-back on the floor holding his face.
Robinson said the official was unable to clarify what offence he had seen Adelakun commit and feels as though his side have been on the wrong end of inconsistent decisions in similar instances earlier this season.
“The assistant referee, I didn’t trust, I never trusted him,” said a furious Robinson.
“Earlier Kelly N’Mai was clearly onside for a one-on-one – it was a disgrace. He’s onside by a good yard and a half and he’s looking at it – he can’t get that wrong. The same assistant is the one that’s waved for a sending-off.
“They’re tussling in the box, he’s (Sparkes) stamped on his toe on purpose, and he’s (Adelakun) just taken a slash out. For me, we’ve had that three times this season, twice nothing happened and one was a booking.
“For the referee to send the player off, the assistant referee has to be 100 per cent sure and I can honestly say to you that he wasn’t 100 per cent sure because he couldn’t tell me the exact thing that he’s seen.
“The red card was incredibly influential after 20-something minutes but when we missed glaringly good chances after 15 minutes, we can’t do that. Our goal return this season is nowhere near good enough to put us where we want to be.”
Spireites assistant boss Danny Webb agreed the red card was an influential moment in the game, as the visitors then went on to cruise to victory with a brace from Liam Mandeville and goals from Aribim Pepple and Armando Dobra.
It was Chesterfield’s first away win in almost three months as they climbed to 14th, within two points of Salford.
Webb said: “I think the red card did change the game but I’ve had three or four reports back from the FA this season on red cards that the opposition should have had and didn’t so we’re due one going our way.
“I think the ref was very good tonight and I thought our whole performance was good too.
“The starting boys were excellent and defended really well early on from a few counter-attacks. Ryan Boot was different class, even though we were playing against 10 men tonight, he made some class saves so give him credit there.
“Football is often a story of highs and lows and we’ve had a lot of lows this season, but we’ve not whinged too much and got on with it – so it’s nice on nights like tonight where the players can look each other in the eye and say we’ve actually had a nice night for once.”
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