Mansfield Town will formally ask the EFL to consider replaying their League One defeat to Stockport County following what manager Nigel Clough described as a clear and unacceptable refereeing error.
The Stags were beaten 2-1 at Field Mill on Saturday afternoon, but the result was overshadowed by an incident shortly before half-time. With stoppage time being played, referee Alan Young blew for the interval a full minute early, cutting short the first half despite time still remaining on the clock.
Speaking after the match, Clough made clear that the club would be taking the matter further.
“Yeah, definitely,” he said when asked if he had been confused by some of the officiating decisions.
“We were denied a minute of legitimate game time at the end of the first half, where they made a grave error, in blowing up one minute early.”
Clough stressed that the issue went beyond interpretation or opinion.
“We’re going to ask the EFL if we can replay the game, because anything can happen in a minute,” he said.
“Somebody could be sent off, you can score two goals, so to be denied 60 seconds of legitimate game time is extremely concerning.
“This isn’t an opinion, this is not ‘was it a foul or was it not a foul’, this is blatant timekeeping.”
The match itself saw both sides score own goals in the first half, before Jack Diamond finished a Ben Osborn cross in the 69th minute to give Stockport the decisive goal. Clough, however, also questioned aspects of the build-up to Stockport’s opener and suggested his side’s opponents were fortunate to avoid a red card for a cynical foul on the break.
Speaking later to BBC Radio Nottingham, Clough expanded on his concerns and the growing frustration among supporters.
“There has to be [patience] because it’s blatant, it’s obvious for everybody to see when they are not giving free kicks like the one that led to the first goal, just generally,” he said.
“We don’t want anything in our favour, I have to stress that, we just want the correct decisions. I don’t feel as though we are getting those at the moment.”
The defeat leaves Mansfield in the relegation zone, with several clubs separated by only a point in the lower reaches of League One. While replays for refereeing errors are rare, the club believe the nature of the mistake makes this case exceptional.
The official was Alan Young, who took charge of our 2-2 draw with Wigan earlier in the season. He gave us a dubious penalty for pulling, although he had warned their players before. He was also the official who upset Chris last Christmas with a drop ball for Huddersfield that led to a goal. Still, I thought he had a strong game when we played Wigan, despite issuing two red cards.