Karl Robinson fumes as two Salford players dismissed in loss at AFC Wimbledon

Posted Sunday, April 07, 2024 by PA

Salford head coach Karl Robinson was furious with the incident towards the end of his side’s 1-0 defeat at AFC Wimbledon that led to two of his players being sent off for their protests.

The Ammies were given a free-kick on the edge of the Dons’ area deep into stoppage time, with the hosts desperately defending the lead given to them by Omar Bugiel’s header.

But a home player appeared to encroach while the set-piece was being teed up for Conor McAleny, clearing the ball and leading to Salford captain Elliot Watt and Theo Vassell seeing red.

Robinson said: “What you see at the end is the most shambolic refereeing I’ve seen in probably 10 years.

“I can’t wait to see him – I’m going to question an awful lot of who he [Ben Atkinson] is because some things got said before the game which I can’t say, I don’t want to get myself in trouble.

“But things were said before the game the referee should not say and I will be reporting it, I will be asking the questions why it was allowed to happen.

“Theo Vassell got sent off for shouting ‘that was an effing disgrace’.

“Five of their players went for the referee during the game saying worse things in front of me.

“Now, for them to send my player off for a decision where when we kicked the ball, their lad was six yards away from the ball. How can this happen? It’s a disgrace.”

AFC Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson said: “I saw him give red cards but I don’t know what for.”

Salford had the best chance of a scrappy first half when Matty Lund was denied by goalkeeper Alex Bass, who was later called upon when McAleny was put through by Lund.

The Dons’ winner came in the 70th minute when Bugiel’s header from Kofi Balmer’s long throw drifted in to keep the hosts three points behind seventh-placed Crawley in the race for the League Two play-offs.

Jackson said: “We have three games to go and we’ve got loads to play for, so that’s great, it shows how much we’ve moved on as a football club.

“We don’t want to stop now – I said to the lads before the game we haven’t come this far as a club to just let it fizzle out now and they’ve stepped up today.

“In a really difficult game, they found a way and that’s what good teams do, so we’ve got to find a way three more times and see where that takes us.

“It might not be enough, but I think it puts us really close, so we have to hold up our end of the bargain and see what happens.”