Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said the club will appeal against the red card which saw defender Jake Wannell dismissed late in a 1-0 home defeat to FC Halifax Town today.
The Glovers boss was confident the decision would be rescinded on appeal following an off-the-ball incident where visiting defender Will Smith accused Wannell of stamping on him.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah after the game, Cooper said: “The linesman on the dug-out side of the pitch is 70 yards away, but he tells the referee he has seen a stamp and the referee is ten yards away. 70 yards away, through bodies and the linesman says he has seen a clear stamp. If he can see that from 70 yards away, he should be in the military as a sniper, not a linesman.
“I have seen it back, the Halifax player grabs Jake Wannell’s leg and he has nowhere to put his foot, Wannell turns round to run away and takes a natural step. It will be rescinded on Monday, it was never a stamp.”
The game was settled by a strike from the edge of the box from the visitors’ Florent Hoti after 57 minutes prompting the manager in to a double substitution with Michael Smith and Josh Sims both coming on nine minutes after going behind.
That led to a strong last half-an-hour from Yeovil which saw Sims twice go close and Pedro Borges force a fine stop out of Sam Johnson in the Halifax goal.
Cooper said he believed striker Aaron Jarvis was denied “a blatant penalty” during one of the periods of pressure, but said his side were too slow with the ball until the changes were made.
He said: “We did not move the ball quick enough at the back, our centre halves did not move forward with the ball, they were too happy to not take a risk with it which allowed them to get bodies back. We were a bit negative with our press in the first half, we let them bring the ball to the halfway line which was not the plan.
“We had to make some changes and the boys that came on were very good. The effort was terrific, we created loads of chances, the only problem is that on too many occasions this season we have not been ruthless enough to finish the game off. Even with ten men we should score.”
The result saw Yeovil slip out of the National League Premier Division play-off places as Halifax leap-frogged them in to seventh place. The Glovers travel to league leaders York City next weekend.
Cooper said: “That will be a totally different game, York will try and be on the front foot. That means there will be more space, it is chalk and cheese. Halifax have done a good job on us today, they were really organised, got bodies behind the ball and a cheap goal from our point of view. We just have to make sure we are quicker with the ball.“
I’d worry for the future of our armed forces if that assistant on the dugout side was a sniper! He’d do well at semaphore mind as he made some very curious flag waving.
Possibly for anyone in the main stand (in the half the incident supposedly took place) would have a decent view…but other than a tangle of bodies – ain’t no way that was 100% certain stamp or kick out. Could someone clarify if the referee rules state to the effect ‘if there is an element of doubt’, or ‘there is reasonable doubt’, a decision cannot be given? Ref’s can’t give what they think they saw…or an assistant saw, right?
I’m also wondering if this same lino with his x-ray vision didn’t understand a basic rules of football…you cannot be offside directly from a throw-in, correct? Yet, there it was! Throw in on the opposite side (to Yeovil), in it comes and up goes the linos flag (duly ignored by the ref who was 10-15 yards away) but unless the lino has digital vision goggles, he really needs to read his rule book again!
Sorry for the rant…it was a good game and worthy of the team’s battling 7th and 8th.