Blackpool boss bizarrely slams referee as he labels Luton's penalty a 'horrible' decision

Blackpool manager Steve Bruce lambasted referee Martin Woods for what he bizarrely felt was a ‘horrific’ decision to award Luton an injury time penalty in their 2-2 draw at Bloomfield Road last night, claiming that Town attacker Gideon Kodua should have in fact been sent off.

Having been 2-0 up and then seen Jordan Clark pull one back with 13 minutes left, the Hatters made their way into the visitors’ area once more courtesy of Lasse Nordas’s header, as Kodua flicked the ball to his right and appeared to be completely taken out Tangerines defender Olly Casey. Although Woods initially played on, allowing Nordas to fire in a shot that Bailey Peacock-Farrell saved, the official then whistled and pointed to the spot.

It looked a nailed on spotkick to most inside the ground, with the home players appearing to question the lateness of the whistle rather the offence itself, but Bruce himself saw it very differently, as he peculiarly thought that Kodua was going to be see red for his part in collision telling the Blackpool Gazette: “I’ve been in it a long time and I know it’s a really difficult job, but that one really baffles me. You can see that Olly played the ball because it’s gone forward. I honestly thought he was going to send their boy off, I thought it was a horrific challenge by their boy. I’ve only seen it once or twice, but it’s a terrible decision I’ve got to say.

“He couldn’t wait to give it either. They played on and had a shot, and he still pulled it back. When he sees it again, we’ll get an email saying ‘we’re sorry,’ but in the context of the game, it’s a really poor decision which has cost us dearly. We couldn’t see it out. I didn’t think we were in any real danger. They got the first one through a horrible deflection, and that gave them a bit of impetus, but it’s a horrible penalty that’s been given against us.

“It’s cruel, because we’ve not had the best of times. When it’s not going for you, you get a few decisions like we did today. At the minute we’re not getting a slice of luck, when it comes to injuries and bad decisions. People tell me it’s part of football but it’s hard to swallow. I’ll be in to see him, but it’s all over. There was an awful decision against us, everyone’s upset and disappointed, we want to put a team together that’s fighting at the top end, and I still believe that given time, we’ll be okay.”

Town chief Matt Bloomfield had a completely different take on the incident to his opposite number though, as he added: “It was a penalty, I’ve seen it back. Gids flicks it inside and he gets taken out. It had gone on probably longer than you would expect to be brought back, but the only thing that matters is the right decision is made and the right decision was made.”