Last updated at 12:06, Wednesday, 05 September 2012

Greg Abbott insisted Carlisle United were victims of an inexperienced referee as they crashed out of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy to Preston.

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The Blues manager claimed official Jeremy Simpson was wrong to dismiss Liam Noble – and said he also failed to rein in Preston’s time-wasting antics.

Abbott later admitted his players had caused their own downfall by missing chances, though claimed the Blues “battered” their derby opponents.

And his anger after last night's penalty shoot-out defeat was reserved for Simpson, who showed Noble a straight red card for a foul on North End’s Nicky Wroe.

The midfielder is now facing a three-match ban after Abbott said Carlisle would be unlikely to overturn the decision in any appeal.

“The referee didn’t know what he was doing for most of the evening,” Abbott said. “He was too inexperienced for the game. He didn’t understand the whole concept of what was happening out there on the football pitch.

“Something like that happens and he pulls out a red, when previously there were numerous occasions which warranted him dealing with them in a better way than he has. He will learn from that because he’s a young referee.”

On the Noble incident, Abbott added: “He has raised his foot, he’s got rubber studs on that wouldn’t hurt if they stamped on my head, but that doesn’t really matter.

“We’re asking him to make tackles because he’s a midfield player. It’s a hotbed area of the pitch. I don’t think there was any jumping in or diving in but the referees see that now as ‘showing aggression’ in the tackle. That is some statement, but that is where people have forced the game into.”

Noble’s dismissal came after JP McGovern had cancelled out Chris Beardsley’s opener to take the tie to penalties. Mark Gillespie, on his full debut, saved Bailey Wright’s spot-kick but misses by Jake Jervis, James Berrett and Paddy Madden enabled North End to win the shoot-out 3-1.

Abbott insisted he would “only take positives” from his team’s performance but was further frustrated by what he saw as ref Simpson’s failure to control Preston’s supposed gamesmanship. United’s fans grew increasingly irate as several of Graham Westley’s players stayed down for treatment after challenges in the second half, causing Carlisle attacks to be halted by the referee.

“I thought we competed very well and created numerous chances against a difficult opposition in the way they approach their football matches,” Abbott said. “They [Preston] play the way they have to play. It’s not for me to comment on what they do. But it’s very difficult, because they stop the flow of the game when teams get up against them.

“I would like the referee to be able to identify that but unfortunately – possibly because he has never been involved in football – he couldn’t see it and identify it, and never dealt with it, and that’s a problem.

“I don’t take any negatives away from it, only the defeat. We have absolutely battered Preston, to an extent that if we’d taken half our chances we we’d have won four or five-one.

“But that’s the way it goes. If you don’t take chances you lose games.”

First published at 11:31, Wednesday, 05 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk