‘That was mental’ – Nathan Jones provides view on Ashley Maynard-Brewer handball accusation at Birmingham
Charlton Athletic manager Nathan Jones revealed why goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer had to be withdrawn at the halfway point of the 1-0 loss at Birmingham City – and also gave his view on a contentious incident early on.
The Addicks stopper was replaced by Will Mannion at the interval after an eventful first half at St. Andrew’s.
Maynard-Brewer was perhaps lucky to escape without punishment after appearing to handle the ball outside of his area in the early stages.
He was then beaten by Jay Stansfield’s rising drive midway through the half, before making a close-range stop from Tomoki Iwata.
But the 25-year-old goalkeeper didn’t reappear after the break.
Jones explained: “He picked up an injury which is unfortunate. I think it’s a groin injury. He did it in the first half, so we got to half-time so we didn’t have to make a sub because we knew we’d need game changers to come on. That’s unfortunate.”
When asked about the handball incident – during which opposite number Chris Davies was cautioned for his protestations – Jones added: “No, he didn’t [handle the ball outside of the area].
“They made more of it than it should have been. That was mental. Literally their coaching staff get an iPad and got a computer there and they can see it’s clearly inside the area but it generates a bit of atmosphere and so on but nothing to talk about there.”
PHOTO: KYLE ANDREWS
Last week a terrible decision by the linesman allowed Newcastle to equalise against Birmingham. This week the ref and Nathan Jones were the only ones that didn’t see the goalkeeper grab the ball a foot outside the box, then move with the ball back into the box. Fortunately this time the incident didn’t cost blues the game… But come on Mr Jones if the boot had been on the other foot you would surely have had a lot to say about it.
This proves Var and goal line technology are needed in this country purely because the standard of the officials is not good enough.