Bradford City on the receiving end against Bristol Rovers as ref gets it all wrong

Phil Parkinson could have supped every one and still not matched the headache that referee Chris Sarginson left him with at the Memorial Stadium.

Moaning about officials is a common and tiresome theme but there are days – and far too many of them lately – when you simply cannot ignore the fact that the chief talking point was the performance of one man.

True, City were masters of their own undoing with poor defending for both goals. Errors at the back were nothing to do with the referee.

But Rob Kozluk’s sending off – the club’s fifth red card of the season – was debatable and Sarginson seemed too easily swayed by the home crowd’s reaction.

And then, having set up a stirring finish, City’s ten men were deprived of the most blatant penalty you will see.

Bristol Rovers, of course, will argue that it was payback. Revenge for the soft decision that went against them at Valley Parade after Jamie Devitt fell theatrically.

And new boss Mark McGhee will also point to the first-half shout when Craig Fagan impeded Elliot Richards.

Yes, that looked a penalty as well. But, to drag out a phrase that has cropped up in so many refereeing rants, two wrongs do not make a right.

Remember Macclesfield away? This one was even more obvious.

Only one person in the entire ground felt that Chris Zebroski’s trip on Kyel Reid was not worth blowing for. And he happened to be the one with the whistle in his hand.

Zebroski, by the way, could have been in an early bath by then like Kozluk. Already on a booking, the fiery Rovers striker sent Andrew Davies tumbling with a late and heavy lunge which drew no reaction at all from the assistant five yards away.

Parkinson stopped his players from talking afterwards but the manager had plenty to say, even if – by his own admission – he was going over old ground.

“The best referees get the big decisions right and they are brave enough to give them,” he said wearily.

“That’s why the top refs get the top games. For me the referee has called the major decision wrong and it’s cost us the chance of a point.”

General consensus was that had the incident happened at the other end – and the home team were attacking – then Sarginson would not have thought twice. Had it been 2-0 and not 2-1, would he have looked more sympathetically on City’s appeals?

Who knows for sure but it was a critical moment. Rovers, two goals and a man up 20 minutes earlier, were on the ropes and hanging on grimly to make McGhee’s home debut a winning one.

Parkinson rushed to tackle Sarginson at the final whistle. The referee invited him to call in the morning after watching it again on the DVD.

“I don’t need to,” argued the Bantams chief. “I was only 20 yards away and saw it for myself.”

But the defeat meant that having won the December manager of the month, he finished January winless.

And as much as Sarginson played a significant part in their downfall on Saturday, individual mistakes were just as culpable.

The first goal after just six minutes was woeful. City had three chances to clear from the game’s opening corner but the ball kept coming back in and eventually skimmed off Lee Bullock’s head to land at the feet of the unmarked Lee Brown.

Jon McLaughlin half-appealed for offside but it was more a blast at his back four for not getting rid of the danger when they had ample opportunity.

Rovers’ second ten minutes into the second half resulted from a rare blunder from Andrew Davies. Trying to cushion the ball down, he got caught out by the lively Richards who whisked the ball away before winning the one-on-one with McLaughlin.

But it is impossible to be too harsh on Davies, who had once again led from the front and staged a brave role in the late fightback playing as a makeshift target man.

Parkinson said: “When you get a player who produces the commitment Andrew does, any mistake he makes is an absolutely honest one.

“The way he threw himself into things to try to get us back in the game was an example to everybody.

“Of course he’s disappointed because defenders have got to play safe. That mistake was costly but the rest of his game was first class.”

As Rovers doubled the lead, the game looked done. It was a “start the car” moment as David Lloyd would say.

But throwing caution to the wind – and Davies into a three-pronged attack – City grabbed a lifeline with 18 minutes left. Deane Smalley nodded the ball into the six-yard box where Davies and David Syers were on hand.

The midfielder marked his return from a three-game ban with the decisive touch while Davies was left in a heap on the floor, having taken a whack for his troubles.

But it was Rovers who were looking increasingly woozy as City suddenly sensed the most unexpected of points.

Kyel Reid was at the hub of their late flourish, making light of his month’s absence to terrify the home defence every time he got on the ball.

Parkinson had preferred to start with new boy Will Atkinson, who will have better afternoons. One excellent cushioned pass to Fagan aside, the young winger found it tough to make an impact.

There were no such problems for Reid when he was summoned in his place. He whipped in three juicy crosses which went unrewarded, though James Hanson was close to jabbing one inside the near post.

Hanson was also caught on his heels by a miskick from Ciaran Bolger that suddenly presented City’s top scorer with a clear sight on goal.

And Michael Poke produced the save of the game to tip away a Davies header from Bullock’s long free-kick.

But that all just added to the overriding sense of frustration as the Rovers mantra “Goodnight Irene” boomed around the ground to celebrate a third win in four games.

Parkinson admitted: “Despite the penalty claim, we had some great chances to get back in it in open play with ten men. We should be talking about a point.

“There are aspects of our game that need to be better but the way the lads responded after going down to ten was fantastic.

“When we’ve got 11 players right at the races, running, working hard and closing down. We’re a decent side. At times we weren’t quite all there and let Bristol Rovers off the hook.”