Stevenage boss Gary Smith spoke to BBC Three Counties Radio after his side's 2-1 League One defeat against Carlisle at Brunton Park, Smith disappointed with the refeering display of Nigel Miller:
“It wasn’t a good start by us, whether it was the journey, the two games, or that this is the third in a week I don’t know, but we looked sluggish from the start. But, I have to say that some of the decisions and the way that the game was officiated we are all bitterly disappointed about. The first goal the assistant referee has got his flag up, even to this point I have asked to speak to the referee, I will wait my 30 minutes and calm down but I just do not understand, I don’t know how it can continue.
“The ball is played, he (Andy Welsh) is offside, the referee does not have an angle and he has said that it has hit someone on the way through to the delivering player and then it stands. So, that is the first goal, the second goal whilst it is probably a booking as he (Steve Arnold) comes out and maybe even a penalty because he does make contact, but the ball is out of play, when he makes contact with the player inside the box (Rory Loy) the ball is out of play.
“Of course at 2-0 down with ten men it is going to be incredibly difficult but it should never have ever have got that point. Bad start, poor officiating, definitely not what you want on a long away day. We then needed a goal, something to just try to hang onto and stay in the game with and I think Marcus Haber’s gave everyone a lift. He took it ever so well, another terrific header under pressure, and honestly I thought the group acquitted themselves with ten men incredibly well.
“A lot of other teams, especially after going two goals down so quickly, would have buckled and maybe got beat quite convincingly. But, I thought there were some real good spirited, genuine displays in the second-half, the difficulty was getting any pressure on their goal."
“The plan was to try to keep ours intact for 30 minutes of that second-half and then go with two up and hope that we were going to finish the last 15 minutes with a little bit of a flurry. It didn’t work out that way, but I did think in the second-half we showed some really good signs as a team in the way that they played in a difficult game.
“I think that Carlisle had a strike that hit the woodwork in the first-half and the free-kick was a wonderful strike, I mean he (David Symington) really did get some real power into that. But, I don’t mean to harp on about this but if you are a neutral, I mean the home crowd will be looking at it and I am moaning and groaning on the touchline about the officiating.
“If you look at a lot of the free-kicks that were given and the way that the referee has conducted himself, honestly someone please tell me if I am being over the top here. I thought it was a real disappointing display and one that we did not need with ten men. I thought he made and created some momentum for Carlisle with some of the decisions he made, I didn’t see any consistency, I thought it was a real difficult game for him, I really did.
“I think that Greg (Abbott) would have looked at the game at 2-0 with a man to the good and thought that they were going to run away with it. When we scored I think there will have been some concerns there, I didn’t honestly think Carlisle hurt us too much, of course they are going to make one or two openings, you expect that.
“But, if I look at how we acquitted ourselves and the opportunities that were still created, with eleven men, even if it is 2-0 and Stevie stays on the pitch we have got a real chance. I would have really fancied us with the way that the game unfolded, with ten men we showed some real good signs and I thought we troubled a side that have maybe been finding results hard to come by other than the last three.”