Ismael calls Championship officiating standards 'disgraceful' after Ipswich draw
Blackburn Rovers were already unhappy at having to replay their game against Ipswich Town, and their anger was heightened after a 1-1 draw.
Valerien Ismael described refereeing standards in the Championship as "disgraceful" after Blackburn Rovers drew 1-1 with Ipswich Town in Tuesday's rearranged fixture.
Blackburn and Ipswich were ordered to replay their game in full after the initial meeting – on September 20 – was abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch with Rovers leading 1-0 and Ipswich down to 10 men.
Andri Gudjohnsen steered in from close range to put Blackburn in front, but they were left with more complaints after Sindre Walle Egeli's last-minute equaliser snatched a point for Ipswich.
Ismael felt Azor Matusiwa should have been sent off when he brought down Yuki Ohashi late in the first half, but referee Oliver Langford ruled there were covering defenders and issued a yellow card.
Ipswich's Taylor Gardner-Hickman was also fortunate to avoid conceding a penalty when he bodychecked Ohashi, while Blackburn's players believed they were wrongly denied a corner shortly before Ipswich equalised on the counter-attack.
Those decisions led Ismael to berate the second tier's officials in a post-match interview with BBC Radio Lancashire, saying: "We took the lead and conceded again, so it's very painful.
"Normally we should be talking about enjoying three points tonight, but tonight I cannot not talk about the referee, enough is enough.
"The red card is a disgrace. It's terrible. I can't accept that. It's a penalty on Yuki [Ohashi] and the last situation is a corner for us, so again the standard from the referee in the Championship is terrible.
"Every game, every three days, it's always the same – the standard is really poor. It's unacceptable.
"With one or two decisions, I didn't say anything, but now that one with the red card... this is a terrible decision, that's why I have to talk about it.
"It's disgraceful to show that kind of performance because no one can understand or follow the decision-making from the referee. Every time is the same. It's always 'sorry,' but what we want is to raise the standard. It can't stay like this."
Ismael then produced a hand-written list of what he said were incorrect decisions to impact his team so far this season.
He continued: "No penalty at West Brom. Charlton... a handball, no penalty. Swansea, no penalty. Preston, no red card on [Ben] Whiteman and no penalty, also at Wrexham.
"Ipswich, a clear red card and a penalty on Yuki. It's as simple as that, they have to do their job."
