Refs chief Keith Hackett apologises to Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock after Freddie Sears' 'goal' is chalked off in Bristol City defeat

Bristol City 1-0 Crystal Palace

Refs chief Keith Hackett has apologised to Crystal Palace after Freddie Sears had a goal wrongly ruled out.

Only ref Rob Shoebridge and his assistant Chris Knowles will know why they chalked off Sears’ 33rd-minute strike after the whole ground saw the ball hit the back of the net before bouncing out.

But as the Palace players celebrated, they saw the ref consult his linesman before ruling out the goal and awarding Bristol City a goal-kick - to the fury of Palace boss Neil Warnock.

Hackett, general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, said: "You would like to think the match officials, the three of them, would have spotted the ball had crossed the line.

"You would have hoped they would have spotted that particular incident. Under law, the fourth official is not allowed to assist in the process had he seen it.

"It is disappointing. I have apologised to Neil Warnock on behalf of the match officials and, of course, the PGMOB, and I make a public apology to the players and also the spectators of Palace.

"They travel away, they spend a lot of money and it is very disappointing that when the ball does strike the net, it is ruled out and not given."

Warnock had called for the game to be replayed after an inexplicable refereeing decision stunned his young side - but that wasn’t all he called for.

The furious Palace boss called for ref Shoebridge to be banned. He called for blameless Bristol City boss Gary Johnson to be reprimanded. He called for the introduction of video technology.

He even called for cushions to be placed in the back of the net!

“This game should be bloody replayed. We scored a good goal and they cheated,” stormed Warnock, criticising City and their manager Johnson for not allowing Palace to score an unopposed goal as compensation.

“The referee and his assistants should be banned for a year, that would be satisfying for me.”

To rub salt into Warnock’s gaping wounds, City conjured up a last-minute winner from Nicky Maynard to steal all three points.

Warnock told his men not to shake the hands of their City counterparts after the whistle and refused to shake hands with opposite number Johnson.

“I think he could have helped out. I don’t know why he didn’t let us go down and score after the incident," continued Warnock. "Maybe I’m old-fashioned and expect too much. If this had happened at the other end there would have been a riot.”

But Johnson, himself angry that City have been made to look the villains of the piece, launched a spirited defence of both himself and his club.

“We didn’t know why the goal had been ruled out,” said Johnson. “We knew the ball had gone in and that it was a goal, but we thought there must have been some infringement in the build-up.

“I’m annoyed that City have been made to look the bad boys. Neil Warnock wants the game replayed but you can’t replay games just because a bad decision goes against you.

“We had a goal disallowed later in the game and when you see it on the replay you see there was nothing wrong with it.”

And Johnson reacted angrily to Warnock's slurs about his lack of sportsmanship.

“I was the first manager to let a team score against us after a similar incident,” said Johnson, referring to a Carling Cup tie five years ago against Plymouth when he was manager of Yeovil.

Yeovil striker Lee Johnson attempted to play the ball back to the Plymouth keeper after an injury stoppage but the goalie had already moved off his line and the ball rolled into the net. Johnson immediately instructed his players to allow Argyle to equalise.

Saturday’s incident added more fuel to the argument that video technology should be introduced, although Warnock had a more unorthodox suggestion.

“We can put a man on the moon and time serves of 100 miles per hour at Wimbledon, yet we cannot place a couple of sensors in a net to show when a goal has been scored,” he moaned.

“Perhaps we might have some cushions on the bars at the back of the goal frame!”

Palace, galvanised by the first-half injustice, saw Darren Ambrose power two screamers narrowly wide as they searched for the goal that would have wiped out the memory of the Sears' decision.

But they were caught cold by Nicky Maynard’s 89th-minute sucker punch that handed City all three points.

RATINGS:

Bristol City: Gerken 7; Skuse 6, McCombe 5, Nyatanga 6; Orr 7, Elliott 6, Clarkson 4 [Akinde 46, 7], Hartley 8 [Fontaine 90, 6], McAllister 7; Maynard 6, Sproule 6. Subs not used: Johnson, Williams, Blackman, Wilson, Basso

Crystal Palace: Speroni 6; Butterfield 7 [Lawrence 89, 6], McCarthy 7, Fonte 7, Hill 7; Danns 7, Derry 8, N’Diaye 7; Sears 6, Lee 6 [Scannell 89, 6], Ambrose 7 [Moses 89, 6]. Subs not used: Clyne, Carle, Flanagan, Erti