"You'd expect referees at this level to get decisions correct"

Waterford FC Head Coach Keith Long has hit out as some of the decisions of referee David Dunne after his side bowed out of the Sports Direct Men’s FAI Cup with a 3-2 extra-time loss against Athlone Town at the RSC last night

Long was left reeling at the Dublin official and his assistant Conor Fitzgibbon after they both failed to award the Blues a clear goal in second-half injury-time of normal time when Darragh Power’s shot clearly crossed the line that ultimately resulted in his dismissal for his strong protests at full-time.

Speaking after the game, Long said: “I shouldn’t have to deal with the disappointment at the end. The referee should be competent enough deal with those scenarios. That’s their job and that’s what they get paid to do. I know that they’re not full time professionals and they’re human.

“Everybody makes mistakes and I understand that. But there’s too many mistakes been made week on, week on, week. There’s question marks over the fitness of referees. There’s question marks over the standard of referees every week on every game.

“I’ve expressed my anger and disappointment as such a poor decision in my view at full-time. I’ve had some strong words at the referee and he shows me a red card. We’ve all got to act within and be professional within the laws of the game, but you would expect for referees at this level to get decisions like these correct.” 

ROOM FOR APPEAL

Long added: “It’s a disappointing dressing room. We’ll have to digest it and we’ll have to stomach some of the stuff when we watch it back. We have to accept that we’re out of the cup and Athlone progress so congratulations to them.

“The boys are hurt. They know that decisions haven’t gone their way tonight. Obviously they’ve conceded two late goals in the game. I think that you can understand their dejection and disappointment. We have to suffer the consequences of these decisions.

“I’ll suffer the consequences of the disciplinary process for my actions. The players will suffer because their dreams of moving forward and progressing in the cup with some big days out in the cup are now gone.

“I don’t’ have any agenda against the officials, but for the referee and assistant referee, well too often and too much the topic is decisions in game that are actually not that hard to get right. That’s the most disappointing nature of it.

“We can appeal a red card so we’ll have to have a look back at Darragh’s situation. After watching it a couple of times at half-time, it didn’t look like there was any sort of punch. No player went down and nobody was appealing for it. It’s poor tonight, but ultimately it’s a bad night for the club.