Johnson fumes at the referee
By Matt Pitman

Monday 14th February 2005

STEVE Johnson claimed ten-man Weymouth were the victims of 'selective refereeing' during their shock 3-2 defeat at Redbridge.

The Terras boss fumed after star striker Kirk Jackson was red-carded for dissent with seven minutes left and the scores level at a boggy Oakside.

Jackson reacted angrily when he was clattered from behind by marker Anthony Fenton who escaped unpunished.

The struggling hosts went on to claim their first victory in nine league games when Greg Lincoln fired a winner deep into stoppage time.

Johnson admitted his side's second successive defeat means they face an uphill struggle to make the Conference South play-offs.

He told Echosport: "I'm frustrated because we seem to be suffering at the hands of selective refereeing at the moment especially with Kirk Jackson's sending off.

"The incident leading to the red card started right underneath the assistant referee's eyes.

"Kirk was clattered from behind which he was understandably angry about because no foul was given.

"He said something to the officials which, they took exception to and obviously he shouldn't have done that.

"But I have a fair degree of sympathy with him because the decisions made were inconsistent to say the least.

"Moments after the red card, when it was 2-2, Ludo Cadima was blatantly hauled back in the box for a penalty, but the officials claim they didn't see it.

"Kirk will now be banned for three games when we should have had a free kick before all that happened.

"It's seems we are not getting the rub of the green at the moment in terms of the decisions.

But I can't use that as an excuse for the result because it was not the referee's fault we were so bad defensively.

All three goals were sloppy and it's a very poor result in a game we should have been looking to win.

"Yes the conditions were poor but it's the same for both teams and we've got to be able to cope in all sorts of conditions against different styles of opponents.

"It was a tough battle but we knew it would be and should have adapted accordingly.

Even though we fell behind twice I still thought we had control of the game and never thought we would lose it.

"We looked livelier as the game went on and when Mark Boyce equalised late on I thought the points were ours.

"But we've conceded right at the death and that now means it's two defeats on the trot for us which is a bit of slump that must be put right."

Johnson is now calling on his players to make a 'super human effort' between now and the end of the season.

"I said before the game we needed to win nine of our remaining 13 games and our target now is nine from 12," he said.

"We can still do it with a little bit of self belief but it's going to take a super human effort by the entire squad for us to make the play-offs.

What we need is for every player in my squad, not just the starting eleven, to give everything for the cause."