Charlton boss felt Cambridge player should have been sent off – but apologises for his own touchline reaction
Ben Garner was left deeply unhappy with the performances of the officials as Charlton Athletic drew 1-1 with Cambridge United today.
The Addicks chief was yellow carded in the second period at The Valley by referee Carl Brook, who was called over to the touchline by Daniel Bonneywell.
And Garner used his post-match press conference to say sorry for his behaviour, but went on to claim that Shilow Tracey should have been dismissed.
“Apologies from me – I reacted in the wrong way,” said the Charlton manager. “It was just pure frustration. The way the game was officiated, particularly in the second half, was below the level that it should be, by quite some way.
“Ironically I said to the fourth official five minutes before Corey Blackett-Taylor got injured that someone was going to get injured, because the game wasn’t managed properly.
“It’s a very heavy tackle on Corey. He gets the ball but the follow through is a little dangerous. And the tackle that follows immediately after from Shilow Tracey, who is on a yellow card, I’ve no idea how he stays on the pitch. The fact they sub him off straight after tells you everything you need to know. I apologise for my reaction, I threw a bottle down and I didn’t realise the top was on it. I apologised to the fourth official straight away.
“I think the standards should be better.
“They need to go full time, I said that last season. These players are professional players, they work hard day in and day out – and you’ve got supporters paying their hard-earned money to come and watch the game – and we’ve got part-time officials. That’s no slight on them – they’ve got a full-time job, families to feed and bills to pay themselves. This is something part-time they come to do on a Tuesday night or a Saturday. They need help, they need training and they need support because the level of the game is higher than the officiating at the moment.”
PICTURE: PAUL EDWARDS
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