SAM Stubbs admits players now expect the standard of League Two referees to be poor.
Both managers rounded on official Leigh Doughty after he showed the yellow card 11 times in City’s Valley Parade draw with Doncaster.
Stubbs was booked after taking a whack in the head in an aerial clash with Harrison Biggins - and played the rest of the game in a protective bandage.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said the defender, one of seven bookings before half-time. “I saw the yellow card and thought it was for him.
“But then (the ref) said you gave the foul away and was telling me to get up. I think he thought I was milking it but it summed up his performance, to be honest.
“I think there’s just an acceptance now that officials aren’t going to be amazing, which is wrong.
“I know they’ve got the hardest job on the pitch, especially with no VAR, and it’s easy to come for them.
“But the biggest thing is probably the respect and I sometimes don’t feel that’s there.
“Not all the time, there are some refs that are brilliant and nice guys. But there are some that aren’t.”
Stubbs had been impressed with Tom Reeves, who took charge of the EFL Trophy semi-final against Wycombe. But Doughty’s performance on Tuesday left him cold.
“Sadly, it’s something you’re used to. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a talking point every week in the Premier League in terms of referees so it’s not something that is just us.
“But it’s definitely something we struggle with lower down.
“I thought the Wycombe ref was brilliant. He came up to me in the game to say that he got something wrong.
That’s all you ask of as a player, they are not robots. They don’t get every decision right in the same way that a player doesn’t.
“But I felt the ref the other night was quite dismissive. It’s quite frustrating when you try to speak to someone and they are completely having none of it.
“It’s the unwillingness to listen which is hard.”
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