Morecambe boss claims Sheffield Wednesday handball call is due to ‘big club’ status

The ‘big club’ status of Sheffield Wednesday had an impact on refereeing decisions that went against Morecambe on Tuesday evening, according to Shrimps boss Derek Adams.
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The Scot watched his side lose 3-0 as Wednesday continued a long unbeaten run that has earned them a place in the automatic promotion places.

And he bemoaned the decision to award the Owls a late third goal, Josh Windass’ second, claiming it had been directed across the line by the goalscorer’s hand.

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Morecambe manager Derek Adams bemoaned refereeing decisions after their defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.Morecambe manager Derek Adams bemoaned refereeing decisions after their defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.
Morecambe manager Derek Adams bemoaned refereeing decisions after their defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.
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Adams calmly registered his disapproval of the decision and said the pressure of big crowds most often goes the way of the home side.

It was the latest rally against referees by a manager who drew headlines for his criticism of officials during his sorry time as manager of Bradford City last season – ironically a club who had the biggest average crowd in League Two by several thousand.

“The third goal was a handball,” Adams said. “So late in the game, we didn’t deserve that. Throughout the 90 minutes we didn’t deserve to lose by the scoreline we lost to tonight.

“The player has handballed it into the net, against Derby (5-0 defeat February 4) we lose two penalty kicks that are questionable, we haven’t had a penalty this season when we should have.

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“That’s because sometimes it’s easy to give those decisions. There are 20,000 fans here, we only have a few hundred supporters. That’s what you get being a big club, you sometimes find the decisions fall for you.”

Adams was highly complimentary of Wednesday’s performance on a night that got off to the worst possible start for Morecambe when Barry Bannan opened the scoring inside a minute.

“It was always going to be a difficult night, but to concede a goal so quickly made it even more difficult,” Adams said.

“They got a quick start, which helped them to get a foothold in the game and not long after that they got a second goal.

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“In the end we limited Sheffield Wednesday to very few shots on target.

“To be fair to the players, they showed great character up against a team that have been fantastic, they’re on a great run. We had some good moments in the game with some decent bits of play and there was resilience there as well.”