Hartlepool United coach responds to Northampton Town frustrations over key decisions

Sweeney was giving his response after Cobblers boss Jon Brady shared his frustrations with referee Thomas Kirk and his assistants for allowing Umerah’s 14th goal of the season to stand with the 26-year-old striker appearing to be in an offside position before converting beyond Lee Burge from outside the area.

Hartlepool had been on the wrong end of the misfortune from officials a week ago when manager John Askey was left to rue the decision to award Tranmere Rovers a penalty, in which they would convert to deny Pools three points, for a foul which appeared to take place outside of the area.

But while it is sometimes suggested these incidents will often even themselves out over the course of a season, Sweeney accepted that will be of little consolation to Northampton in their promotion bid.

“It doesn’t help Northampton. It wasn’t Northampton’s fault that it was a penalty and not a free kick last week at Tranmere,” Sweeney told The Mail.

“But referees are human as well. Players make mistakes, us as staff make mistakes over the course of a season, so we can’t be too critical.

“I didn’t think it was as clear cut [as has been suggested].

“I have seen it and it did look slightly offside but I wouldn’t say it was one of them where it was a glaring error. It’s one of them you’ve got to deal with.”

Umerah’s first half goal was not the only issue which caused Brady to question the officials with the Cobblers boss also keen to highlight an incident between Hartlepool defender Euan Murray and Northampton midfielder Jack Sowerby in the second half.

Murray collided with Sowerby on the touchline with Northampton players suggesting the Scotsman had led with an elbow and should have been shown a red card only for the referee to brandish a yellow instead.

“I don’t know if they were claiming it was an elbow, again I’ve seen it back and it wasn’t an elbow,” Sweeney explained to The Mail.

“He does catch him on the head with his hand if you like. I've seen them sent off for that before, I’ve seen them stay on before. It’s one of them where the referee is closer than we were and he made the decision.

“From our point of view it's about how easy he got into that position. That is where we need to learn the lessons.”

Despite Northampton boss Brady feeling aggrieved, Hartlepool, themselves, may have had cause for frustration with the Cobblers’ equaliser.

But Sweeney gave credit to Northampton for their innovative approach as Pools saw victory snatched away from them in the final 10 minutes.

“If we did that and scored a goal everyone would be raving about it so sometimes you’ve got to pat teams on the back for their inventiveness,” said Sweeney.

“We had two corners towards the end of the game where we had a decent number of bodies in there and we got the first contact.

“We’ve got to maximise those opportunities where we’d be standing here with three points instead.”