Cousins disappointed by ref's decisions

Longford Town manager Tony Cousins is always honest and straight talking in his assessment of games. When decisions have gone against his side he has tried not to be too critical of match officials but after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to midlands rivals Athlone Town the Town boss couldn’t contain his criticism.

Speaking to extratime.ie he said, “I’ve been a great supporter of the referees and linesmen. I haven’t gone to newspapers or caned them no matter how bad the decisions have been but I’m really at my tether now. You can only support them for so long. The way it is there are too many decisions going against us.”

On Saturday night Longford Town had Paul Hunt sent-off and Athlone awarded a penalty; two controversial decisions. While the week before in Limerick defender Chris Deans was harshly sent-off. An assessor at the game even commented on how unlucky Deans was. These decisions have infuriated Cousins. “Last week in Limerick the 4th official sent off one of our players. There the referee was in control of the situation and had a yellow card out. The 4th official had Pat Scully and Limerick players shouting in his ear. I don’t blame their bench but the 4th official wasn’t in a position to make the call. I’m 24 years in this league and that never happened to me before. There have been too many decisions. You couldn’t have that many against you.”

Longford Town had two penalty decisions that went against them on Saturday night. As well as the one given to Athlone, Longford had claims for one in the second half turned down by Cork referee Keith Callanan. Cousins said, “Thomas Crawley was taken down in the second-half. He was straight through and clipped, he’s in the box and it’s a penalty but the player has to be sent off and I think that’s why the penalty wasn’t given. I’m not just pointing at things and having a go it’s week in week out now and I’ve had enough. I’ve kept quiet but I’m not backing them anymore.

The Town boss went on to say, “I understand that this is a league for referees and linesmen who are trying to make it into the Premier and they are going to make mistakes. At the end of the day all I’m looking for is a bit of consistency. If there’s a decision that goes against us I’ve to accept that but when the identical thing happens for us I expect the same decision to be made. That’s my major gripe.”

Cousins would like something to be done because refereeing decisions are proving costly not just for his club but for a lot of others in the league. “Something has to be sorted; whether it’s the managers all getting together. I think every club should give the referee a video of the game because if we’re assessing the match to try and improve our teams the referee should also watch the game and assess his performance. It can only help him.

On the match itself Cousins was full of praise for the effort his players put in. He was disappointed that they couldn’t get something out of the game. “I couldn’t have asked anymore of the lads after the sending off. The disappointing thing was giving away the first goal and then when that happens your backs are against the walls. It’s terribly disappointing. We’ll just kick on. It was horrific. The points were there for us. The aim is to finish 5th so that’s what we’re hoping to do.”