Ben Garner criticises officials after Cambridge hold Charlton at the Valley

Posted Sunday, August 21, 2022 by PA

Charlton manager Ben Garner criticised the standard of the officiating in his side’s 1-1 draw with Cambridge.

The Addicks boss was shown a yellow card by referee Carl Brook in the second half at the Valley.

And Garner felt that Shilow Tracey should have been dismissed.

“Apologies from me – I reacted in the wrong way,” he said. “It was just pure frustration. The way the game was officiated, particularly in the second half, was below the level that it should be, by quite some way.

“Ironically I said to the fourth official five minutes before Corey Blackett-Taylor got injured that someone was going to get injured, because the game wasn’t managed properly.

“It’s a very heavy tackle on Corey. He gets the ball but the follow through is a little dangerous. And the tackle that follows immediately after from Shilow Tracey, who is on a yellow card, I’ve no idea how he stays on the pitch.

“The fact they sub him off straight after tells you everything you need to know. I apologise for my reaction, I threw a bottle down and I didn’t realise the top was on it. I apologised to the fourth official straight away.

“I think the standards should be better.

“A point apiece was probably about right. Credit to Cambridge – they were really organised, really disciplined and really hard-working. We’re frustrated not to take all three points, especially having been ahead.”

Cambridge had lost their last three Sky Bet League One matches in a row, a run stretching back to the end of last season, and went behind when Scott Fraser headed them in front four minutes before the end of the first half when Dimitar Mitov initially made a good save to deny Jayden Stockley.

Harvey Knibbs swept in from close range on the hour mark after Charlton keeper Joe Wollacott had initially kept out Sam Smith’s header.

“The (Charlton) goal comes from constant pressure on our goal but we defended our box and crosses quite well – perhaps the easiest moment to defend is the one that ends up in our goal,” said Cambridge head coach Mark Bonner.

“I’m delighted we responded. We had moments where we needed to be more clinical in the first half, we should’ve scored after 30 seconds, and had we made better use of some of those counter-attacks we might have created a few more chances ourselves.

“We knew today the possession was always going to be Charlton’s and not ours. Second half we got good control of the game and had a lot more ball. There was a lot less threat on our goal until the dying stages when, if you haven’t seen the game off, then you know you’re going to be made to defend late on.

“We made a brilliant block in our goalmouth right towards the end, Lloyd Jones, and scrambled for our lives. We’re actually really pleased with a point.”