Officials were “beyond a joke” says Marine manager Bobby Grant

Marine manager Bobby Grant has labelled the officials as “beyond a joke” after last night’s 2-1 away defeat at Hereford.

Grant felt that the home side’s opening goal should not have stood due to a handball in the build up, and that Hereford escaped a red card after the referee booked the same player twice.

Speaking to the club’s Youtube channel, Grant said: “They booked their centre back twice, and even their staff have said he’s booked the same player twice.

“It’s unbelievable. My players have just been denied three points.

“The decisions were beyond a joke.”

Marine’s Matty McDonald levelled the score in the 72nd minute, but the home side took all three points through an Aaron Skinner penalty in stoppage time.

Grant felt the Mariners were denied a penalty of their own in the game.

He said: “Everyone in the whole ground agreed, every single person, even the fourth official agreed it was a penalty. It’s unbelievable.”

Despite losing the game, Grant was full of praise for his team and felt that the reason they lost was down to the officials.

He said: “That’s one of the best performances we’ve delivered all season. We were absolutely outstanding from start to finish. We were so good.”

He added: “I can accept losing games when we’ve been poor, but tonight we’ve been really good.

“That was a disgrace from the officials.

“The reason we lost that game of football is down to the officials.”

Marine remain in 12th place in the National League North with one game remaining, as they travel to Spennymoor Town on Saturday.

See the full interview here:

(Featured image free to use under Alamy Licence)