Carlisle United boss rues 'big calls' in Stevenage stalemate

The Blues boss was adamant his side should have had a penalty for a first-half challenge which almost saw Paul Huntington’s shirt removed.

And he felt the same Stevenage defender, Dan Sweeney, should have seen red for bringing down Ryan Edmondson as the Carlisle sub attacked the box.

Simpson admitted there was no guarantee different decisions by ref Tom Reeves in those moments would have led to a United victory.

But the manager felt they were crucial moments in the context of the 0-0 draw with Steve Evans’ fellow high-fliers at Brunton Park.

“I know the officials don’t have the benefit of watching things back, but he [the referee] is in a brilliant position to see that Paul Huntington is up against Sweeney from our corner, Sweeney isn’t even looking at the ball, and he virtually pulls his shirt over his head,” Simpson said.

“The referee makes a gesture to suggest that Hunts is grappling as well, but he has done absolutely nothing wrong. All he did was go to try and get the ball and he had his shirt pulled, so for me that’s a penalty.

“They [Stevenage] have moaned all the way through the game that he was a homer referee, but that’s a huge call to miss.

“The second one is when Ryan Edmondson is into the box with just the keeper to beat. He’s taken out of the game, he gets brought down and that’s a red card for me.

“There’s no debate, it’s a sending off. They’re two big calls. I’m not sitting here and saying that if we’d got those we’d have won the game, but it would certainly have given us a better chance.

“Decisions like that have to be made right, and the referee has got to be brave enough to make them. He hasn’t done that today.”

Paul Simpson applauds the crowd after the game (Image: Ben Holmes)

Simpson added that United kept their cool in other moments when Stevenage tried to cause trouble for them.

“They're wanting Morgan Feeney sent off because they said he head-butted Carl Piergianni – Piergianni has kneed him in the back of the head as he's fallen to the ground,” Simpson added.

“I’m not saying it was on purpose, but he kneed him in the back of the head, and Morgs has shoved him. There's no head butt.

“They’re claiming Jon Mellish stamps on somebody over in the far corner. There's no stamp.

“It's all histrionics. And trying to get people in trouble. And I thought we kept our discipline really well, and unfortunately the referee didn't make two really big calls.

“I don’t think he had a bad game but they’re big calls that you have to make.”

Carlisle slipped out of the automatic promotion places after their four-game winning run came to an end.

They are now fourth, but can move back up to second if they win at Bradford City on Tuesday night.

Simpson was pleased with his team’s determination and battling spirit but accepted they lacked the quality to win the game against their promotion rivals.

He did feel it was a “really good point” in the circumstances.

“It was absolutely [the kind of game] I expected,” he added.

“My report from last weekend's game was that they make it really bitty. They make it scrappy, they want to fight and you can't knock it because they're really good at it. So that's what we expected.

“And I thought the players stood up to that. I thought they competed really well. We just lacked that little bit of quality in possession, which I know we're better at, and maybe it's just the emotion of the whole situation that just affected us, or maybe we have to give them a bit of credit because they make it a disruptive game and they make it really difficult to get any sort of fluidity to it.”

READ MORE: Carlisle United v Stevenage - as it happened

On United’s inability to unlock Evans’ defence, Simpson added: “I’m not even sure it was the final pass all the time. Sometimes it was the pass before the final pass.

“We didn't quite execute it very well. We just seemed a little bit hurried and, again, we might have to give them credit for the way they pressed and the way they've got about us.

“We got into some good areas and good opportunities, and we're hitting the first man with crosses, or we're hitting it out of play. We're making wrong decisions from set plays.

“So it was all of those things. I can't criticise our players because I think they've been magnificent. We just want them to keep going and be a little bit better.”

United’s manager also pointed out that, on a day when Carlisle could not win, it was important they did not lose.

“The pitch had a bit of zip about it – it looked lovely and green today – but we didn't use it as well as we could have done,” he said.

“But it was about no risks. They put you under so much pressure to make mistakes, whether that be a mistake with a challenge and they're able to load the box, whether it be a mistake putting it out for a throw-in round the 18 and [Kane] Smith comes up and launches it in.

“I thought we defended really, really clean for 99 per cent of the time. I thought we defended the set plays really, really well for 100 per cent of the time. Tomas [Holy] came when he needed to.

“So there's a lot of good things that that are there to be built on and that's why I still believe it's a good point.”