‘I need to seek clarity from the officials’ states seething Bristol Rovers boss following key decisions in Blackpool defeat

Matt Taylor, the manager of Bristol Rovers, expressed frustration with many calls made by the referees during Blackpool’s 2-1 victory at Memorial Stadium.

After strong goals from CJ Hamilton and Karamoko Dembele gave the Seasiders a two-goal advantage inside the first 20 minutes, Chris Martin gave the home team a response.

Taylor feels that in the build-up to Blackpool’s second goal of the afternoon, there ought to have been an offside flag. He was particularly disappointed when the referee rejected the Pirates’ late-game requests for a penalty.

It’s unquestionably a foul, he declared.

Like with the handball in the wall in the first half, you’ll probably freeze-frame it to see if it was in the box, but their second goal is, in my opinion, the largest one. I have to clarify with the officials what I should tell Connor Taylor to do in that circumstance.

“Connor is heading the ball down into a dangerous area while offside. Their player picks it up, makes one pass, and it ends up in the back of the net.”

Does he let it pass through to Jordan without intervening? The natural tendency of a defense is to attempt to prevent that. That is still offside in my opinion, but like all officiating these days, they say it happens when the ball gets there, but halting it has cost us a moment in the game.