Dino Maamria: Stevenage were robbed of penalty

Posted Sunday, August 18, 2019 by PA

Stevenage manager Dino Maamria felt his side were robbed of a penalty after a change of heart from referee Lee Swabe in their 0-0 stalemate with Leyton Orient.

He had seen his injury-ravaged squad turn in a battling performance to gain their first point of the season which might have been more had the spot-kick been awarded.

“My wife told me before I came out, please don’t talk about the referee but I’ve seen something today that is inexplicable really,” he said.

“It must be the first time in football where the referee and linesman both give the penalty and then they have a chat and change their minds. It only happens against Dino Maamria’s team.

“Am I going to take it personally, yes I think I am because to have a chat and then to say, ‘Oh I’ve changed my mind; well I’ve never seen a referee do that.

“Mistakes do happen but to change your mind over a penalty is incredible. Today, not one official made the mistake, both of them did.”

The incident that riled the Stevenage boss came after 26 minutes when Kurtis Guthrie went down under a challenge from Dan Happe. Initially after some thought, the referee pointed to the spot but then changed his mind.

Injury-ravaged Boro defended heroically and almost snatched a last-minute winner when Paul Taylor produced a fine save from O’s keeper Dean Brill.

Maamria was delighted with his side and said: “I thought they were different class today, we were short of numbers but we made the most of what we had.

“In terms of performances, that was a real backs-to-the-wall effort. My two centre-backs in the second-half were 17 and 19 years-olds.

Interim Leyton Orient head coach Ross Embleton said: “I felt today we performed to a level which deserved the three points. We put some good balls into the box, we had some good attempts on goal, so we do feel a little hard done by.”

“I have just said to the lads in the dressing room, after the week we have had, people may have questioned us but we have been defensively strong and created more than we have done in the last couple, so I feel we have built on again so I am pleased with the performance but very frustrated we haven’t gone and won the game.

“I think we had 23 attempts on goal so there are some positives to take from today.”

On the penalty decision, he commented: “It was strange because I thought the referee had given the corner and changed his mind but I understand though that he had given the penalty and he was overruled and it also shows that their is good communication from the officials.”