Joey Barton left frustrated with referee and officials after Fleetwood Town's 1-0 defeat at League One leaders Portsmouth

Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton was left frustrated by the officials after Nathan Sheron was sent off in their 1-0 defeat at League One leaders Portsmouth.
Nathan Sheron is shown a red cardNathan Sheron is shown a red card
Nathan Sheron is shown a red card

Sheron, 20, was ruled to have fouled Ronan Curtis in the 84th minute and was shown a second yellow card by referee Lee Swabey.

He had already been booked for a foul on Curtis earlier in the half.

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The second card was a decision Barton felt everyone in the 18,000 plus strong crowd at Fratton Park bar the officials felt was an offence.

It left Fleetwood a man down and unable to fight back as Oli Hawkins' 50th minute effort saw the league leaders match on.

And Barton was left frustrated by Swabey, fourth official Gregory Read and assistant referees Kevin Howick and Stuart Butler as he called for more consistency.

He said: "It was frustrating because I felt on a whole the officiating team were really poor.

"I think they got caught up in the occasion.

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"Maybe it is the biggest attendance they have officiated in front of but I thought it really affected them.

"We got a player booked for taking too long on a throw, they have a similar player take at least double the time when they are winning 1-0 to no booking.

"They send young Nathan Sheron off for winning the ball, bizarrely.

"He books him after not giving a foul because Shez does not allow their player to run through which he is not supposed to do.

"He gets back and wins the ball.

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"Everyone in the stadium barring the referee, fourth official and linesman see that Nathan has won the ball.

"Then they decide to give him a second yellow, send him off and we are 1-0 down.

"We cannot appeal it because it is a second yellow which is ridiculous.

But unfortunately what I am finding at this level is that the officiating on the whole leaves a lot to be spoken about.

"They have got to be more consistent."

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Barton says Town should have left Fratton Park with a point.

He said: "We should be leaving here with a 0-0.

"They have scored a good set play but it comes from a throw-in on the opposite side of the pitch here that we should deal with.

"After that a couple of mistakes made, people do not lock on, it ends up with a corner on the other side.

"They put it in and we compete for the first one but switch off when the runner comes.

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"It is someone who is six foot four, hard to miss.. but we miss him.

"(Hawkins) gives the keeper no chance and with the state of the game it always looked like it would be decided by a set-play."

And as they were felled by a Dion Donohue corner Barton was not impressed with his own side's set-plays.

He said: "The game in its entirety was a pretty evenly matched game as both sides cancelled each other out.

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"Great for us because we came to a place with 18,000 fans and it was silent in here for the majority of the game.

"It was always going to be a set play game, just one of those affairs where you have got two good sides competing.

"The key is what you do when you get the opportunities to put the ball in their box.

"They have scored from one and I thought on the whole our delivery on set-plays has not been as good as what it has been in recent weeks.

"That is disappointing because a set-play for us is always an opportunity for us to have a goal scoring chance and we have not done enough of that on Saturday."