Refs are doing my head in says Dickov

THE WAY the scales tipped in favour of Sheffield Wednesday was down to a trio of poor decisions made by the officials, according to Athletic manager Paul Dickov.

After outplaying the promotion-chasing visitors in the first half of an entertaining contest, Athletic felt that Ryan Lowe should have been halted in his stride for being a solid yard or two offside prior to forcing Alex Cisak into a low save.

Kieran Lee was then blatantly fouled in his own penalty area – nothing was given by Kevin Friend, the referee who was very definitely an enemy in Dickov’s eyes – and as the Owls mounted sustained pressure for the first time, David Prutton produced a piece of wizardry to juggle the ball in a tight spot and rifle home.

The problem? His foot was raised in initially taking the ball off the forehead of substitute James Tarkowski. Wednesday, a model of often brutal efficiency, doubled their lead thanks to a baffling penalty decision awarded for a foul by Robbie Simpson on Sanchez Watt six minutes from full-time, Lowe slotting the ball home from the spot.

“There were three defining moments for me,” said an angry Dickov, whose side slip to 16th in the npower League One table after a first defeat in over a month. One was the offside, one the high foot and the other the penalty. I spoke to Robbie (Simpson) and he was told the penalty was given for pulling their player back. Robbie said it was shoulder-to-shoulder.

“There were three or four instances in the seconds before that in which the same happened to our players. So how it can be given when the referee is standing in the box, on top of it, with the linesman around 25 yards away, I don’t know. We seem to be talking about referees every week. It is doing my head in now.”

Gary Megson’s side, backed by a following of almost 3,500 fans, increase their advantage in League One’s promotion race thanks to this result and Huddersfield’s surprise home defeat to Bournemouth.

The way Athletic performed and passed the ball, though, especially in the first half, means there is plenty of sustenance within this defeat.

“For the majority of the game we were excellent,” Dickov added. “In the first half, with some of our passing moves we should have come in 2-0 up.

“We started the second half well, before they got some momentum with four or five corners in a row – from a decision where their player was two yards offside.

“It put them on the front foot and put us under a little bit of pressure.

“We conceded and after seeing it again, nine times out of 10 it gets given as a high foot. Tarky (James Tarkowski) hasn’t even stooped down for the ball. It was a great finish and I give him credit for that. For the penalty, I don’t know why it was given.

“They are a good team. Gary (Megson) has done a fantastic job there and they are second in the table.

“But we more than matched them and I am really disappointed we didn’t get anything from the game.

“We move on. One little run has stopped, but keep playing like that and we will be ok.”

Megson was pleased and slightly relieved to have picked up three points.

"I am absolutely delighted because this was always going to be a difficult game," he said. "They are well organised and have a right good go. It was a bit of a battle and a scrap in the first half, as you would expect but we've come away from home, kept a clean sheet and won 2-0."