Boss slams 'bizarre' decision

Mark Warburton felt referee Eddie Ilderton should have stuck with his decisions in Brentford's 0-0 draw with Sheffield United

Ilderton inexplicably pointed to the spot and showed Kieron Freeman the red card after the on-loan Derby defender clearly won the ball in a challenge with Marcello Trotta in the first half. But after Bramall Lane erupted with outrage, the Tyne and Wear official consulted with his linesman and rescinded both decisions, restarting the game with a drop ball. It meant the Bees, who move five points clear of third-placed Leyton Orient in the race for automatic promotion, were rightly denied the chance to take the lead from the spot and it ended in stalemate, despite both sides having plenty of opportunities throughout a pulsating 90 minutes. "I have never seen anything like that in my life before," he said. "The obvious thing to do is just take time and go over and speak to your linesman and then make your decision. "But he has brandished the red card and given the penalty and all of a sudden we end up with a drop ball. It was absolutely bizarre, I have never seen anything like it before. "I haven't seen it again, but the fact of the matter is he has brandished the red card and pointed to the penalty spot. "But I thought we were very, very good. We started very brightly and they were shocked at the tempo. "There were some excellent performances and I thought for the first half hour of the second half we bossed it and any neutral can see that."