Hartlepool coach says Cobblers have to 'deal with it' after controversial incidents

Hartlepool United first-team coach Anthony Sweeney felt his side were owed some good fortune and told Cobblers they just have to ‘deal with it’ following two controversial moments during Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Victoria Park.

Josh Umerah opened the scoring on 37 minutes but replays showed he was at least a yard offside, and then early in the second-half home defender Euan Murray only saw yellow after catching Jack Sowerby in the face with a flailing arm.

Cobblers boss Jon Brady was deeply unhappy with both incidents, and Sweeney, who was on press duties instead of manager John Askey, also gave his view.

“It doesn’t help Northampton, (but) it wasn’t Northampton’s fault that it was a penalty and not a free kick last week at Tranmere,” Sweeney told the Hartlepool Mail.

“But referees are human as well. Players make mistakes, us as staff make mistakes over the course of a season, so we can’t be too critical.

“I have seen it (the goal) and it did look slightly offside but I wouldn’t say it was one of them where it was a glaring error. It’s one of them you’ve got to deal with.

“I don’t know if they were claiming it was an elbow, again I’ve seen it back and it wasn’t an elbow. He does catch him on the head with his hand if you like. I've seen them sent off for that before, I’ve seen them stay on before. It’s one of them where the referee is closer than we were and he made the decision.

“From our point of view it's about how easy he got into that position. That is where we need to learn the lessons.”

Hartlepool may have felt aggrieved themselves over the manner of Sam Hoskins’ equaliser. Mitch Pinnock took a sneaky quick corner, allowing Marc Leonard to charge into the penalty box, but replays suggested the ball was still moving when Pinnock touched it.

Sweeney added: “If we did that and scored a goal everyone would be raving about it so sometimes you’ve got to pat teams on the back for their inventiveness.

“We had two corners towards the end of the game where we had a decent number of bodies in there and we got the first contact.

“We’ve got to maximise those opportunities where we’d be standing here with three points instead.”