Lee Bowyer launches scathing attack on referee after penalty call in Charlton Athletic defeat

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Lee Bowyer launched a blistering attack on referee James Linington after Charlton’s 1-0 defeat to Peterborough.

The match official yellow carded Bowyer in the first-half for dissent and also cautioned Posh boss Steve Evans in the tunnel at half-time.

But Addicks caretaker manager Bowyer went for Linington in his post-match press conference.

His outburst could land him in hot water with the football authorities – but the former Leeds, West Ham and Newcastle midfielder also called for punishment to be handed out to Linington.

He ruled late on that Lewis Page had bundled over Ivan Toney. Jason Cummings stuck away the late spot-kick.

Bowyer said: “We were the better team. I know that they did everything I asked. They competed, they left everything out there and I know that they’ve been cheated.

“There is no denying it. Everybody in the stadium saw it. It wasn’t a penalty, has never been a penalty. Now he is sitting in his little room over there and thinks it’s acceptable to make a decision and then he’ll go home and he’ll sleep alright. But I know I won’t, my players won’t and most of my fans won’t.

“Is it acceptable? No. Am I probably going to get into trouble? Yeah. But should he get in trouble? Yeah. He shouldn’t be reffing. He shouldn’t be able to ref the next game. He just made a decision there and said the fella got pushed. The fella tried to dive to head the ball. There was no push – they were side by side.

“Is there contact? Course there is. You’ve got two players running at 100 miles an hour, one trying to defend and one trying to score. There is going to be a contact. But is it a penalty? No. Anyone who has played the game knows it’s not a penalty. That’s my thoughts. It’s an absolute disgrace how he can make that decision.

“A disgrace. And if I’m getting in trouble, he should get in trouble. It’s as simple as that because he’s just robbed us of a point, maybe three.

“We were the team on top and going to score – not them.

Bowyer stormed onto the pitch at full-time to confront Linington.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know what I said to him. And it wasn’t that.

“I’ve played the game so long, since I was a kid. And then you’ve got someone making that decision at that time of the game when it’s wrong. Everyone can see it. But all night long the slight 50-50s were going to them, going to them.

“I don’t know whether their manager because he is this big geezer standing on the side and bullying the fourth official – constantly hammering the fourth official – maybe he’s afraid, I don’t know. Maybe he has been bullied into that because every slight decision went to them. Every single one.

“We had Lyle Taylor getting across the near post and their defender marked him and there was contact and he gave us a corner. Is it similar? Yeah. Is it a penalty? No. But neither was their one. All I ask is for them to be fair. But they can’t – because they don’t understand the game. He don’t understand the game. He’s not played the game, he don’t understand the game.

“Is that his fault? No. I’m not saying his job is easy. But you can’t just guess and gamble when you have got 22 players out there putting their bodies on the line. You can’t just gamble, you can’t. It’s wrong.”

IMAGE BY PAUL EDWARDS