New boss Hughes slams referee after Blues' defeat to Grimsby
Mark Hughes questioned the “competence” of referee Zac Kennard-Kettle for key decisions in Carlisle United’s 2-1 defeat to Grimsby Town.
The new Blues head coach felt his side were wrongly denied a clear penalty – then saw one given against his own team for a “blatant dive”.
Hughes said they were “really poor decisions” and reflected the standard of officiating at League Two level.
Grimsby’s winner came from Danny Rose’s penalty in the 83rd minute when Sam Lavelle was penalised for a challenge following a corner.
Earlier in the game, with United 1-0 up through Lavelle’s opener, Joe Hugill was booked for diving when it seemed the Blues were about to be awarded a spot-kick of their own amid home keeper Jordan Wright’s challenge.
The defeat saw Carlisle remain five points adrift of safety at the bottom of League Two.
“Once again, the level of competence at this level isn't consistent, unfortunately, and you're expected to accept it, but it's not correct,” said Hughes.
“He [Kennard-Kettle] got a big moment wrong when Joe went down in the box, taken out by the keeper, clearly a penalty. The referee deemed it simulation and booked him.
“And then, lo and behold, with ten minutes to g he gives a penalty which was a blatant dive, and our lad never touched him, and that takes the game away from us.
“So, that's disappointing because you just hope that they do their job correctly and then the football itself decides the outcome.”
Hughes said he was clear in his opinion having watched footage of the incidents back before talking to the News & Star.
“It’s clearly two really poor decisions,” added the 61-year-old, who was at the helm for his first game two days after his appointment as Mike Williamson's successor was confirmed.
Danny Rose, far left, won the game for Grimsby from the penalty spot. Mark Hughes felt the spot-kick was awarded despite a blatant dive (Image: Richard Parkes)
“It's a difficult job, we've all said it in the past, but the reality is that in a professional game you just want referees to get the big decisions, the game-changing moments, [right].
“Those are the key ones, all the periphery decisions don't really matter, you've just got to really concentrate and make sure you get the big decisions right.
“Unfortunately the young referee today got two huge decisions wrong.” United also saw penalty appeals turned down when Stephen Wearne went down under a challenge in the first half.
Hughes said Kennard-Kettle had not given him his take on the crucial incidents after the game but the Blues boss added: “I just asked him to maybe look at it once again and learn from it because basically he's had a nightmare.”
United’s new head coach said he was encouraged by aspects of Carlisle’s performance, including the “heart and energy” they showed in the game at Blundell Park.
He also said there was a “naivety” about parts of their game which they must work on.
Hughes added: “We've only been in the building a couple of days. Consciously, we didn't want to give them too much information and overwhelm them to a certain extent.
“But, as far as I could see, they were trying to make things happen, trying to implement what we talked about, which was was encouraging.
“There were other things in our game that we have to be markedly better at. But, in terms of effort and energy that the team showed, I think that was an improvement in terms of the games I've seen.
“We've got 17 games left. We can build on this performance. On another day, we would have got something positive in terms of points. We've got a big game again on Tuesday [at Newport County] and we'll go again.”
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