Bradford City boss Hughes on the cost of refereeing mistakes

The Bantams manager’s anger was centred purely on Jamie Walker for losing his head and going in late on opponent George Marsh when already teetering nervously on a yellow card.

Walker’s second foul was a blatant booking and he had to go.

Referee Toner had no choice and Hughes had no beef with the decision.

Even allowing for the red card which depleted City’s numbers for the final half hour, it made a welcome change to finish a game without disputing at least one big call from the officials.

The sheet that each club’s manager fill in after the game - where the referee is marked over various categories out of 100 - will have not been accompanied by a stinging letter for the powers-that-be.

Hughes has become a regular correspondent to the Professional Game Match Officials Board, the refereeing authority in this country, this season.

It is a habit he would love to kick - but fears he will be penning some more frustrated thoughts between now and May.

“We don’t do flippant letters,” he said. “They are concise and just ask them for their observations.

“On occasions they agree, other times they will try to defend the indefensible.

The Rochdale challenge on Abo Eisa not deemed a foul (Image: Thomas Gadd)

“But for the most part we don’t do frivolous ones. We only write in and question decisions that we feel have a direct outcome on the game.”

The last home outing against Rochdale still rankles with the manager as much as anyone who was watching it at Valley Parade.

A costly defeat and lacklustre performance against an opponent who started the night second from bottom.

But the non-award for a penalty claim at one end and then giving a soft-looking one at the other within a couple of minutes certainly transformed the pattern of the evening.

Hughes’ post-match anger flip-flopped between Abo Eisa not drawing the foul after he was knocked down in the Rochdale box and Brad Halliday subsequently being punished in a tangle in their own.

Ref Paul Howard got it both barrels from the City chief - who accused officials of “guessing” too often when making the key calls.

Another missive was fired off along the same lines and Hughes was anticipating a subsequent reply admitting that the London-based official had got it wrong.

If so, that will be the third official apology the Bantams have received. The PGMOL have already said sorry for penalty blunders in the games against Swindon and Leyton Orient.

“It’s a significant amount,” added Hughes. “We’re halfway through and indirectly or whatever, these are decisions that have cost us five points.

“God forbid it’s going to be 10 in the whole of the season. That’s too big a number.

Mark Hughes had no argument with Jamie Walker's red card (Image: Thomas Gadd)

“They will never get all decisions in 90 minutes of football correct. But the key ones are when they need to earn their money.

“Getting an apology after the event doesn’t help in terms of acquiring points.

“Why do we do write to them? Maybe just to get it off our chest.

“Sometimes they don’t agree and will argue against our argument or observations.

“That’s why the process is there and every event in the game is open to interpretation.

“We’ll put our case again as we always do when we feel aggrieved, as we did the other night. I won’t pre-empt the answer but I can think what it will be.”

It is not a conspiracy theory against the Bantams. Hughes revealed there are widespread concerns throughout League Two at the current standard of officiating.

“I think it’s a general view of most management teams we speak to.

“We all know it’s a massively important job and one that’s really difficult.

“But when you’re given a role, you’ve got to try and put in performances that are at the correct level.

“We get judged as football people and they are part of the process. They just need to improve their performances.

“That’s the only reason we’re highlighting that. We get beaten and on occasions we deserve that as we know.

“Looking back, I just felt it markedly changed the outcome of the Rochdale sgame.

“You don’t really hear me talking about it at any great length. I have done this time because I thought it was important.”

Writing to complain to the refereeing authority may feel like a case of shutting the stable door when the horse has long bolted. But Hughes hopes that the message will get home.

“It is what it is. We can’t do anything about it.

“We get it off our chests and have to move on and hope the next week we get a little bit of the rub of the green in terms of decisions that go for us.”