Charlton boss Lee Bowyer frustrated as his side are on the wrong end of refereeing decisions during Reading defeat

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Charlton boss Lee Bowyer says that decision making from the match officials cost his side during the crucial defeat against Reading at The Valley.

A penalty from George Puscas after just three minutes proved the difference at the Royals claimed a victory that leaves Charlton just a point above the Championship drop zone before this afternoon’s 3pm fixtures kicked-off.

But the game was mired in controversy as Chuks Aneke had a goal ruled out for offside on the half-hour mark despite replays showing the Addicks forward was in-line with the last defender.

Jake Forster-Caskey was also shown a yellow card for simulation late on when he appeared to be hauled down inside the Reading box.

“Decisions have cost us,” said Bowyer after the game, his side’s third defeat in a row.

“The officials have cost us the game today. It’s plain and simple. Chuks Aneke – his goal, is a goal. I said to the fourth official, the linesman can’t just guess. You have to be 100 percent right on these decisions. These are big moments. There’s careers on the line at this stage of the season. My players gave everything and we haven’t got our rewards. If their penalty was a penalty, then so was ours. Jake got dragged to the floor, it’s a penalty. So, you’ve got the offside, you’ve got the penalty, big decisions.

“I’d love to see what [referee Darren Bond] puts in his report because I know my report isn’t going to be good for him. Someone has got to have a look at these decisions today and something has to be done because that just wasn’t up to scratch. All of them, the ref and the two linesmen. They weren’t good enough today.

“Disappointment. Again, it’s another game that we should have got something from. We haven’t really done much wrong. They get a penalty early on. And then after that I thought we were the better side. I thought we created more clear-cut chances again.

“You can say that’s cost us but Macauley [Bonne] has to score. You can’t keep missing chances like that. Three yards out. Connects with the ball properly and you score. Can’t miss chances like that. It ain’t good enough. I said to the players, they’re a good group and they keep pushing and fighting for everything. Right to the end. They don’t deserve what’s happened today. I’m very disappointed because we played well.”

The South Londoners now travel to Birmingham City on Wednesday evening as they look to get their fight to stay in the Championship back on track with three games left.

Bowyer added: “Today’s game was a game that I was hoping we’d pick up three points. We done enough to win the game but for one reason or another we come away with nothing. We’ve got three games to go and we’ll keep fighting until the end. Wednesday becomes a massive game against Birmingham. We need to turn up and hopefully we might get a decision or two go”

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