Sky Bet Championship: Rotherham boss Steve Evans slams refereeing decisions in defeat to Bournemouth
Sunday 18 January 2015 16:54, UK
Rotherham manager Steve Evans blasted referee Stephen Martin following the 2-0 loss against Sky Bet Championship leaders Bournemouth - but feels the visiting side are good enough to earn promotion.
Goals from captain Tommy Elphick in added time at the end of the first half and a 62nd-minute effort from Callum Wilson did the damage to keep Bournemouth top of the table.
Evans laid into referee Martin for his display, fuming: "He's had an absolute shocker from start to finish.
"I think our supporters made it known what they thought. That's the worst official we have had in about five years.
"I don't remember playing away from home and getting so many decisions from a match official, I think that's quite hard to take as a manager.
"I think we're unfortunate to concede before half-time because if you've got a stopwatch that's the same as mine, he's over time."
Evans also criticised Bournemouth players Matt Ritchie and Wilson for making the most of tackles but feels the visiting team will go up.
"They are two of the most gifted players on the pitch - but how they have not been booked for simulation...the mind boggles," he said.
"I thought for large parts of the game we gave the best team in the league a run for their money.
"Give credit to Eddie (Howe). There has been some fantastic investment down at Bournemouth. Eddie has spent the owner's money very, very wisely and put a formidable team together who play proper, proper football and they are a credit to the Championship."
Bournemouth are now nine games unbeaten on the road in the league and manager Howe believes both offensive and defensive attributes are proving key to their travelling success.
He said: "We have been good defensively on the road and we protected our goal very well.
"I think whenever you watch us play this season we've always looked like we've had goals in us and we were quite ruthless when our opportunities came along. That's a good combination when you are tight defensively and free-scoring."
The Cherries beat Rotherham 5-1 just a fortnight ago in the FA Cup and Howe admits that the strength of his squad is encouraging as they look to earn promotion to the Premier League.
He added: "I think we've got a good squad and it's very difficult to pick a team when you are in my position with the strength that we have and the other guys have proved that in all the cup competitions this year.
"When the team has just been on a long unbeaten run and suffered its first defeat I wanted to give those lads an opportunity to respond and make sure I didn't make any knee-jerk reactions in terms of selections.
"The other guys are very good players and they will get their chance because it's a long season and there are plenty of games to come."
