Deeno Joins The List

Dean Gerken has joined a long list of Colchester United players to criticize referee Patrick Miller for his performance in the U’s midweek defeat to Hull City.

Miller controversially sent-off U’s full-back Phil Ifil, with just a 14 minutes on the clock, a decision what U’s manager Geraint Williams believed changed the game.

‘I thought all the lads were brilliant,’ praised Gerken to Fanzine, My Football Writer.

‘The referee has not helped us whatsoever the whole way through the game, some of the decisions I just couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.

‘You moan about the referee every now and then, and I think people moan about them too easily sometimes, but that was unbelievable – I’ve never seen anything like it.’

The U’s stopper added: ‘To see him send off Phil Ifil for violent conduct when it’s just a trip and a yellow card at most, but if anything that’s played a part in why the lads have been so good.

‘It was a superhuman effort and it had to be, because we weren’t going to get any favours from the referee so we tried to do ourselves a favour.

‘I thought free kick and turned round thinking maybe he’d get a yellow card, but I couldn’t believe it.

‘I looked at Richard Garcia at the time and even he couldn’t believe it, and you thought well it’s not going to be our day when that happens,’ he admitted.

‘Everyone was stunned, you only had to look at the cluster of players that were near Phil Ifil and the referee to see that nobody could believe it when they saw the red card went up,’ he went on.

‘He’s obviously seen something totally different, he clearly hasn’t played the game before so I can’t say much more than that.’