Sheffield United coach discusses referee's 'response' after Blades robbed of victory at Blackpool

Sheffield United’s coaching staff and players alike were incensed after two seemingly-legitimate goals were chalked off in their goalless draw at Blackpool on Wednesday night.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

An early header from Sander Berge was chalked off after the Norwegian midfielder was flagged offside, despite him appearing to be onside, before Ollie Norwood’s later strike was also disallowed by a late flag.

That goal took a nick off Jack Robinson on the way in, but the defender was comfortably onside and revealed afterwards that the referee Geoff Eltringham didn’t know who the ball had deflected off, but disallowed the goal anyway.

Blades confirm ex-Liverpool man is training with Hecky's men

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Paul Heckingbottom said after the game that he was hoping to see Eltringham to discuss his decisions.

And asked ahead of tomorrow’s derby against Barnsley at Bramall Lane whether he had received any answers, United coach Jack Lester said: “We went to find them, and they’d already gone.

“And it was probably good that they had. It was really disappointing, I must say.

John Egan of Sheffield United questions the offside goal decision at Blackpool with referee Geoff Eltringham: Andrew Yates / SportimageJohn Egan of Sheffield United questions the offside goal decision at Blackpool with referee Geoff Eltringham: Andrew Yates / Sportimage
John Egan of Sheffield United questions the offside goal decision at Blackpool with referee Geoff Eltringham: Andrew Yates / Sportimage

“With the games we’ve had, we’ve asked the players to go again and again and again, Blackpool had scored in 14 consecutive games and we kept them to nil and then it was a case of, can we grab one?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We did, and it didn’t count. It’s not making excuses but that was poor for us on the night.”

Victory would have seen United go back into the top six, but they instead dropped to ninth after Nottingham Forest beat play-off rivals QPR.

United can go up to fourth again tomorrow with victory in the early-kick off against Barnsley.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.