Bradford City's Richie Smallwood unhappy with ref standards

The Bantams have voiced their frustration over the decision-making in recent weeks – with boss Graham Alexander arguing that strikers Andy Cook and Vadaine Oliver are getting the rough end of too many calls.

As captain, Smallwood is allowed to confront officials on the pitch – but fears he is wasting his breath.

He said: “At this level, we’re all playing for our futures and playing for points for the club and a lot of the time it’s costing us.

“We’re not in the Premier League, we’re playing for our careers and that’s what frustrating when you look at the grand scheme of things.

Brad Halliday consoles Andy Cook after the Walsall defeat (Image: Tom Pearson)

“The referees are really spoiling the game in my opinion.

“I’ve let them know that in the recent games but I can say that and it doesn’t really change anything. It’s a bit of a waste of breath.”

Smallwood is prepared to push City’s case with the referee each time over questionable calls. But he is wary of getting a reputation for being a serial complainer.

“I think that’s where I’m probably at with a lot of them,” he admitted. “They are probably thinking, ‘he’s constantly moaning all game, shouting and bawling’.

“Maybe I need to keep my mouth shut. But it’s quite difficult when you are playing for your career, your contract, your future.

“I don’t think they are bothered. They just run off and say they’ll book you.

“You know there’s a line that you can’t cross and I normally get to that point pretty quickly in the game and then have to ease off.”

Alexander has spoken to the refereeing authorities, the Professional Game Match Officials Board, asking for guidelines over the way he feels defenders are allowed to man-handle City’s target men without punishment.

Smallwood added: “I obviously travel in with Andy a lot and I do speak to them about it. But what can you say? They get frustrated.

“You can’t understand it because when you see the video back it’s them getting pulled constantly.

“How can Vadaine pull a defender who’s behind him? It’s just not possible.

“You can speak to them but it’s been and gone and there’s nothing you can do. It’s a pretty short conversation.

“You tell them to keep their heads up and hopefully we’ll get one given for them in the upcoming weeks.

“But it’s quite difficult because it’s not just one game, it’s week in, week out.

“Fair play to Andy, he keeps going, keeps trying to get free and still scores his goals and his headers. He obviously deals with it pretty well.

“But he probably needs to be careful with yellow cards or the next couple of weeks he might be banned.

Vadaine Oliver believes he is being hard done by with refs (Image: Tom Pearson)

“I think he’s on three for dissent so it’s something he needs to control. But overall, he does it quite well just battling on trying to get free the next time and hopefully making the referee aware.”

Smallwood and Cook are among those with a score to settle at Harrogate on Saturday after the last painful visit in March. Seven of the side that started that 3-0 loss are likely to play this weekend.

“It was at the end of a bad week last time and a really bad day all round,” said the City skipper.

“I’m sure it will be in the mind of those players wanting to put that right.

“Normally they are quite tasty games against Harrogate. We know they are hard-working and the manager gets them up for it.

“He sees Bradford as a big scalp, so he’ll get the players fired up.

“We’ve got a few players from Harrogate over the years and they know what it’s all about.

“They’ll be taking it very seriously. They have had a few indifferent results but we need to start picking up points as well, so we’ll be right after them.

“We need to be putting some unbeaten runs together if we want to climb the table.

“We’ve found ourselves in this position too often and we need to keep in contact with the top places.”

Smallwood will reach 500 career appearances at Morecambe on Tuesday - and insists he is not bothered by people who write him off.

“I don’t read a lot, to be fair. I’m not really on social media and don’t hear it like the young lads do these days.

"You can get consumed by it. I try my best each game.

"Sometimes, some parts might be good and in others, they might be a bit sloppy. I recognise that.

"I am not perfect, but I’d like to think I always try my best and do what the manager asks of me at all times with the decision-making on the day.

"Obviously, I am not always going to get it right and it can look frustrating at times, I understand that as well.

"But once the referee’s whistle goes, nothing else really touches me."