Danny Cowley criticises referee decisions after Colchester's draw with Cheltenham
Danny Cowley did not hold back in his evaluation of referee Alan Young’s performance following Colchester United’s 1-1 draw with Cheltenham Town this afternoon.
The U’s manager expressed dissatisfaction with two significant decisions made by the official: a penalty awarded against Sean Raggett that allowed Andreas Weimann to equalise after Moses Sesay’s opener, and Jaden Williams’ 83rd-minute red card for a foul on Robbie Cundy.
The Robins’ equaliser in the 78th minute came after Raggett was deemed to have handled Joe Tomlinson’s free-kick in the area, but Cowley maintained that the centre-back had been fouled in the lead-up.
He stated: “It was a massive foul on Rags that means that he’s completely off balance – you only have to piece it together, if you’re a competent official. He doesn’t.
“Their left centre-half is an experienced player, he comes from offside to onside, he uses his body well, nudges him under the ball but it’s a clear foul – gives a penalty.”
The situation deteriorated further when substitute Jaden Williams received a straight red for a challenge on Cundy, forcing Colchester to navigate the closing minutes with 10 men. Cowley contended that the decision reflected a fundamental misunderstanding of the laws.
He remarked: “If they understood the game, they would understand that all Jaden is doing is getting his body and his leg across to protect the ball – he is well in his rights to do that.
“The player doesn’t even go down. He’s saying it’s dangerous play but there’s no velocity on the foot. He just gets his foot across – it’s not even a foul, let alone a red card.”
Cowley’s post-match comments expanded into a wider critique of officiating standards in League Two, questioning why four-man refereeing teams do not collaborate on crucial decisions.
He commented: “The level of understanding from the officials in what the laws of the games are – they don’t understand the game.
“The sending off just blows my mind, how he can think that it’s a red card.
“The speed that he delivers it with – he just doesn’t give himself any time to think and consider and try to look at it. He’s got three other guys there and all have different angles and different views.
“The reason why the Premier League have VAR in place is because we understand it’s really hard to referee 22 players that are incredibly athletic, the game is played faster than it has ever been played before, so it’s really hard.
“For me, to see a League Two game where you have four officials, for the big decisions, the key decisions, the game-changing moments, to not confer and speak and work as a team, to get the decision right, I find it really, really hard to understand.
“We’ll get another apology but you don’t get any points for the apologies. We keep getting apologies for poor decisions.
“The same referee at Doncaster two years ago phoned me up on the Monday to apologise – will he phone again? I don’t suppose so because he’s absolutely adamant that he’s right. That’s the dangerous bit.”
Despite his frustration, Cowley was quick to praise the quality of Sesay’s impressive 66th-minute strike, a move he believed deserved all three points.
He said: “We go 1-0 up in a really tight game… it was a really well-worked goal.
“Jay Williams did brilliant, won the ball, made the first pass, Jack Payne turned it round the corner to Moses [Sesay] who drove and played it to Ellis [Iandolo] who does brilliantly and cuts it back and it’s a great finish.
“It was a goal worthy of winning any game and we were in a good position in the game.
“I don’t think today we consistently put good actions together, if I’m honest but that was one occasion that we did and it resulted in a great goal.
“These games, we’ve all lived them long enough at these levels – there’s very little between the two teams.
“We were 1-0 up in our last two games and we’re really disappointed not to seal the game off and get the three points that would have been reward for a hardworking, determined effort.”
Source: Gazette