‘I’m raging’ – Wrexham boss makes extraordinary accusation in rant about referee

Phil Parkinson has accused referee Thomas Parsons of ‘trying to make a name for himself’ after costing Wrexham a win.

The Welsh side – who are owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney – couldn’t beat struggling Cambridge United at the Cledara Abbey Stadium in a crucial League One clash as they look to move closer to automatic promotion.

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Parkinson’s side were held to a 2-2 with a controversial penalty putting Cambridge 2-1 up.

Parsons adjudged that Cambridge striker Ryan Loft was brought down in the penalty area by Lewis Brunt, leading Josh Stokes to score from the spot.

Wrexham did draw the game level through Sam Smith, however, the Hollywood-owned side thought that they had grabbed a winner through Eoghan O’Connell – however it was ruled that the initial corner had gone out of play before finding the defender in the box.

Reflecting on the game, it’s safe to say that Parkinson wasn’t impressed.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Parkinson said: “The referee’s performance tonight? To say I’m raging is one of the biggest understatements in my 1,000 games.

“That penalty decision is one of the worst penalty decisions that I’ve seen and to disallow the goal at the end is completely bizarre.

“You’ve got to be absolutely sure that that ball has gone out of play and there’s no way – no way – that he can be sure that ball’s gone out of play.

“For the penalty decision, it’s just incredible.

“The referee couldn’t wait to give those things tonight.

“I just asked him if he’s a professional referee because as they get research packs coming into the games – did he watch Cambridge on Saturday throwing themselves to the floor to buy free-kicks in those situations because he clearly didn’t.

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“There’s absolutely no contact and to give a penalty against us in that situation is tough to take but I’m very proud of the way the lads responded.”

Parkinson added: “Yes, we’re in a fantastic position, but it doesn’t stop my anger at the referee tonight.

“Like I said, is it a coincidence that the Reading penalty gets given against us? And then tonight, anybody will watch that penalty tonight and say, wow, that is unlucky. It’s absolutely incredible.

“I think there was a comment somewhere that we were fortunate to get the penalty at the weekend. But like I keep saying, we’ve had three, Wycombe have had nine, Birmingham have had 11.

“I can do a montage of all the decisions we haven’t had and had against us, and the refs, I feel, sometimes come at these games wanting to make a name for themselves.”

The draw for Wrexham means that they stay in second place in League One, three points ahead of Wycombe who were also held to a draw.

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The Chairboys do, however, have a game in hand.

Wrexham are also 11 points behind Birmingham City, with the Blues having two games in hand to strengthen their position at the top of the table.