I’m absolutely furious – Karl Robinson rages at referee after Salford defeat

Salford boss Karl Robinson said he was “absolutely furious” at the referees’ actions in his side’s 2-1 home defeat to Grimsby.

Luca Barrington scored twice for the visitors, opening the scoring within a minute and striking again just before half-time after Cole Stockton equalized in the 15th minute.

Salford hit the post twice in the second half through Ossama Ashley and Junior Luamba, while a penalty claim was rejected by referee Jacob Miles when Kelly N’Mai went to ground after a strong tackle.

“I’d like to know how it could be so bad, it’s impossible,” said a furious Robinson.

“The punishment is an absolute disgrace. I can say that our defending and finishing were also a disgrace at times today, but that was only part of the story today.

“Also with some tackles I am surprised that some of my players are not in a worse position. I’d say the better team lost. In the end they won, but I am absolutely furious about external influences on the outcome.

“It sounds worse when you lose, but ultimately that was not an acceptable performance by the officials today.

“However, our defending for the two goals was terrible and I went absolutely crazy for the players. We were the better team today and I don’t think anyone can dispute that with the chances we created.”

David Artell was delighted with Grimsby’s start to the match.

“If you score after a minute, it is of course good that you start flying, but I thought we were also well established and that is nice,” said Artell.

“I thought we were a threat throughout the first half and I thought we probably could and should have had more, with a few balls flying past the front of the goal that we couldn’t quite get to.

“I thought we had full value for the lead at halftime. Obviously the second half was a little different when they put a big man up front, but I thought we stood up well to their directness.

“I thought we had 11 men today which ultimately won us the game, but we had some quality in the first half when we were able to play and we made some better decisions which helped us win the game.”