Walsall boss Michael Flynn calls for cash to make officials better

The main talking point after the game was Rochdale’s fourth goal where Owen Evans recovered from a poor clearance to catch the ball from Ethan Brierley’s long drive, with video footage showing he had clearly kept it the right side of the line.

Flynn said the assistant referee who ultimately made the decision was ‘yards behind the incident’ and that there should be no doubt about decisions no matter what league the game was in. He said: “There is enough money at the top level for it to come down and allow for full-time officials, it wasn’t just the fourth goal, their first goal they pushed our defender out the way and nothing was done, I’m not sure why Brandon Comley’s goal was disallowed which would have made it 3-2.

“I can’t say too much because I’ll be fined but I do think the lower reaches of the game get forgotten when it comes to officials, they are part-time in a full-time game. In some ways I don’t blame the linesman because although he was off the pace, he doesn’t train full-time and wasn’t in a position to make the judgement.

“We’re just not getting any luck at the moment other than bad luck and in many ways the end of the season can’t come quickly enough.

“There are still players feeling the effects of coming back like Oisin (McEntee) and now Donervon Daniels who has done his hamstring so in many respects we are still struggling but we have to get on with and I thought there were positives --.

“I was pleased for Jamille (Matt) getting his first goal for the club, he has worked really hard to get back to that position and he took the chance well.

“There were other good performances as well and on another day we could have won but we have to learn to defend better or concentrate when we score and are ahead or level because the two goal bursts we are being hit with are killing us at times.”