Still-frustrated Kevin Nolan felt ref Tierney 'chased it' after wrongly disallowing early goal against Rotherham
Kevin Nolan felt Paul Tierney was guilty of ‘chasing’ an early mistake as the Cobblers manager repeated his frustration over the referee’s performance during Saturday’s defeat to Rotherham.
Tierney and his team of officials disallowed an early Sam Hoskins header at Sixfields but footage from the wide camera angle suggested Hoskins was a yard onside when the cross was delivered.
The experienced Premier League referee then awarded Cobblers a highly debatable penalty, converted by Hoskins, but late on he failed to spot what seemed a clear foul on Michael Jacobs before penalising the same man on the edge of Town’s penalty box less than a minute later.
Jacobs’ apparent foul appeared soft but Cobblers were made to pay the ultimate price when Josh Benson curled the subsequent free-kick over the wall and into the net.
"The penalty was obviously dubious and I thought it was a poor one to give from where I was stood,” admitted Nolan. “They say it’s swings and roundabouts but I don’t really believe in that. When you get something wrong, don’t try and chase it and I thought Paul tried to chase it and I don’t think that’s like a Premier League referee.
"That was the most disappointing thing and that’s probably why I’ve spoken about it more than I usually speak about referees. These are big moments in games. It’s 1-1 and I can take that. It’s the 87th minute and we haven’t played our best but we can see it out and pick up a point and you feel reasonably happy.
"But there’s a blatant foul on Crackers and then 60 seconds later he’s given a free-kick right on the edge of our box. Don’t get me wrong, what goes on after that is really poor from us, but it shouldn’t happen and we shouldn’t be in that position.
"They have to get those moments right and you expect a Premier League referee to get it right and I was disappointed that he didn't. I don’t want to feel like I’m moaning about it but I want to put it out there that it’s disappointing when people of his calibre get those decisions wrong. He shouldn’t.
"We weren’t good enough anyway in that second half so I’m not making excuses but we have to help referees as well.”