Bristol Rovers boss fined for remarkable referee blast after Sunderland defeat last month

Garner had accused the referee of ‘wilting’ in the second half of Sunderland’s 3-0 win, and suggested he may have been influenced by the atmosphere on Wearside.

The score had been 0-0 when Abu Ogogo was sent off, but it was a decision shortly after that drew Garner’s ire.

He felt the game should have been stopped when his defenders clashed heads, with Charlie Wyke left free to run through and double Sunderland’s lead.

“The second goal, I absolutely cannot fathom,” he said.

“The referee has told me it wasn't a clash of heads. I've asked for an apology because it's a very clear clash of heads and the game should stop straight away.

“He's booked me for saying it's a clash of heads.

“I thought he was very good first half and in the second half he has just wilted under the pressure unfortunately,” he added.

“The rules are the rules, it's a clash of heads, it's dangerous, Tony Craig has got a huge lump on the side of the head.

He's hurt his knee in the collision as well so we're very disappointed with that.

“To say straight to my face that it wasn’t a clash of heads is just amazing.

“The fourth official is just there, the assistant referee is there looking at it, I’m fifteen yards away from it.

“I don’t know if he got influenced by the atmosphere at half time but I thought first half he was very good, second half it just turned.”

An FA statement said: “The Bristol Rovers FC manager, Ben Garner, has been fined £500 following media comments about the appointed match referee for the EFL League One fixture against Sunderland AFC on Saturday 22 February 2020.

“He admitted that, contrary to FA Rule E3, his comments constituted improper conduct as they questioned the integrity of the match officials and/or brought the game into disrepute.”

Bristol Rovers beat Sunderland 2-0 at the Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night, with Phil Parkinson saying afterwards that referee Charles Breakspear had been ‘very poor’.