Portsmouth legend blasts referee standards after penalty controversy in Derby County draw

Portsmouth legend Guy Whittingham has blasted refereeing standards in League One after Pompey were left to rue a controversial decision in Saturday’s draw at Derby County.

Despite creating several good opportunities to take the lead at Pride Park, John Mousinho’s side fell behind to a James Collins penalty with just four minutes remaining after referee Rebecca Welch controversially penalised Regan Poole for handling a cross from the right-hand side.

Pompey battled back to preserve their unbeaten league record for the season and claimed a point thanks to a last-gasp equaliser from Colby Bishop - but even that could not quell Mousinho’s frustration as he was left ‘furious’ by the penalty decision. Whittingham had sympathy with the Pompey boss and called for officials in League One to be ‘fully professional’ in a bid to raise standards across the decision.

He told: “What you want as a manager is consistency and I said that during the commentary there was none - and I don’t think we are going to get any until these guys are fully professional.

“It’s a professional game, I’ve said it before on commentary. She works, referees work, they all work, there’s only the Championship and Premier League that are fully professional and unless they are fully professional you’re going to get refereeing standards like they are.

“Unfortunately, there is now way around it, you can’t blame them, they need more training, they need to be professional to get everything right because they might have had a hard week at work, feeling a bit tired, things on their mind.”

Former Pompey striker Whittingham also felt there would be a tinge of frustration for Mousinho after his side created enough chances to claim what would have been a notable win against a much-fancied Derby side.

“Yes, he (Mousinho) was disappointed with that but I think he realised his team put in a decent performance. He was pleased, apart from the penalty chance, Derby, the chances they created were Portsmouth making mistakes in the first-half.

“I think he’s happy with the result but he knows that if you are going to come to places like this and win you’ve got to take your chances.”