Williamson: Kovacs should have walked

Feb 4 2008 by David Triggs, Chester Chronicle

BLUES boss Bobby Williamson blasted referee Michael Oliver for failing to send off Chesterfield’s Janos Kovacs following the defender’s x-rated tackle on Saturday.

Kovacs escaped with only a yellow card for a crude two-footed lunge on Craig Lindfield two minutes before half-time.

While Williamson was delighted to see his team arrest their slide with a hard-earned 1-1 draw at Saltergate, he was furious with Oliver’s handling of the Kovacs incident.

The Chester manager said: “It should have been a red – that’s the rules.

“The fourth official’s tried to explain to me that if it’s a two-footed tackle and he doesn’t get the player and gets the ball then it’s only a yellow, but that’s nonsense. If your feet come off the ground and it’s reckless and dangerous, it’s a sending off and the referee has got that wrong I’m afraid.

“The ref said if Craig Lindfield had went for the ball and got caught, then it would have been a red. I’m thinking to myself ‘has our player got to break his leg before he (Kovacs) gets sent off?’

“The boy’s seen the challenge coming and he doesn’t go for it, and rightly so. The referee has still got to deem it as reckless and dangerous.”

Saturday’s point against the promotion-chasing Spireites saw City halt a run of four successive defeats.

Williamson dropped winger Richie Partridge – one of his big-name summer signings – for the first this time season and deployed Tony Dinning at the heart of a tightly-knit four-man midfield. The tactic worked perfectly, with Dinning – making his return to first-team action following a long injury lay-off – particularly impressive.

Williamson said: “Tony’s a tremendous player. He’s a tremendous professional and we’ve really missed him. Even when he wasn’t in the team, he was always with the lads at the games supporting them. We’ve missed him just because of his motivational factors. He’s a good talker, he organises and wants to win. The more players you’ve got like that in your team, the more chance you’ve got of winning matches.”

After enduing a miserable January, Williamson is hoping February will bring with it a better run of results.

He said: “We’re hoping this is going to be the catalyst to start us on a run. If we can start a run right now and keep winning games, then we won’t be too far away from the play-off positions.”