Barnsley boss readies action as he fumes over Portsmouth disallowed goal

Boss Michael Duff was left fuming over ref Andy Woolmer whistling to give a foul for Joe Morrell’s tackle on Josh Martin, before Devante Cole fired home with 12 minutes left.

It was a key moment which went Pompey’s way, with the home crowd acknowledging as much as they sang ‘stand up if you love the ref’.

Duff had to choose his words carefully over the incident after the game, as he branded the call ‘strange’.

The former Cheltenham boss will look to take up the issue with the Professional Game Match Officials Limited group, who are responsible for officials in English football.

Duff told BBC Sheffield: ‘To go 1-0 down, to show the spirit I’m fed up of talking about referees at the minute, it’s every week.

‘I think the club are going to put something in today because he (referee) didn’t even book the lad, he scythed him down and had no interest in getting the ball.

‘He disallows the goal and doesn’t book the lad, so a strange decision among many.

‘With the amount of penalties we’ve had against us in the last six or seven games, and big big decisions like that go against us but we should have been winning the game at half time and it may have been a different game.’

Factoring in the disallowed goal and two fine saves from Matt Macey in the first half, Duff was certain his Barnsley side’s display warranted a point from the game.

It was a return the Northern Irishman was satisfied with after a winning at Oxford United during the week.

He added: ‘I thought we definitely deserved a point. At half time we should be winning the game again, we’ve hit the crossbar, had a one on one, Cole has had another good chance. Credit to them in the second half it wasn’t quite as fluid. They scored a good goal.

‘We scored a good goal but the ref decides to disallow it and we kept going to the last minute. I was really really pleased with the spirit and lads coming on, affecting the game. First half I thought we were excellent, second half a bit bitty.

‘It’s a good point. You look at Oxford away, Portsmouth away, Wednesday and Saturday you would take four points all day.’