Refs can’t be scared of making big decisions – Ferguson

The Sky Blues boss was infuriated by the Newtownabbey officials decision not to take action despite Glens defender Jason Hill clearing hauling back clear-breaking United sub Peter Duffin by the shirt in the closing stages of the Showgrounds clash and confronetd the referee on the pitch att he final whistle.

“It’s easy for officials to make easy decisions but if there’s one which is maybe going to make a difference in the game right at the death, they can’t be scared to give it.

“Peter Duffin was running clean through if if the defender wasn’t catching him, he was pulling his shirt and he would have had to send Jason Hill off.

“To compound it all when I faced him after the match to get his reaction, his first statement was ‘come to my room and I’ll explain’. I said no because that gives him time to think. I wanted a knee-jerk reaction as to why he made the decision.

“From my first managers/referees seminar last year – and funnily enough it’s coming up on Wednesday night again – I have constantly said that referees coming through are arrogant and how they talk down to players and managers.

“I don’t know if it’s a directive that they’re being taught from the highest refereeing chain but there’s a way to talk to players and to explain things.

“It’s easy for officials just to walk away – they are never held accountable in the press or media.”

On the match itself, Ferguson was pleased at how his re-shuffled rearguard worked, with Mark McCullagh and Aaron Stewart deployed at full-backs, with regular right-back Tony Kane moving into a defensive midfield role.

“We had a good training session on Tuesday night and on Thursday night we worked on changing the system because we wanted to stop conceding silly goals.

“We’ve tried this system and we had a conversation with the players to see if they liked it. After the game we spoke to them about it and they seemed to be comfortable with it.

Ferguson also praised his players – in particular injured keeper Dwayne Nelson – for ensuring a clean sheet despite the foolish sending off of David Cushley for two yellow cards for rash challenges.

“For Dwayne to get injured with half an hour left and to lose David Cushley with 15 minutes to go against a team like Glentoran I thought the boys showed great commitment and desire to stick their head, their foot or whatever in to stop them from scoring.

“The pitch was pulling the legs out of 11 players, never mind 10.

“David knows he stepped out of line. I have known David for coming on four years and some days you’ll get that – other days you’ll get the brilliance he shows at times.

“I wouldn’t swap him because you know it means something to him and I would rather have someone like that than someone who doesn’t give a toss.

“He will be dealt with internally and he knows that. I told him it was unprofessional and stupid but it hasn’t cost us.

“If he had been on the pitch we possibly could have won the game but we haven’t lost the game because of it. The rest of the boys bailed him out of it so we’re not going to get too carried away with it.

“The back four did well and we had Mark (Surgenor) and Tony (Kane) in front of them to cut out the supply and we frustrated Glentoran.

“In the second half it became a wee bit more difficult when we were down to 10 men and Dwayne was injured but he made a couple of good saves and the boys defended brilliantly in front of him,” added Ferguson.