Jim Bentley praises referee Jarred Gillett for his performance in Morecambe’s win against Cheltenham Town

The Australian official made history as the first overseas referee to take charge of an English match when the Shrimps beat Cheltenham Town 4-0 at the Globe Arena on Easter Monday.

The 32-year-old, who has been the A-League referee of the year on five occasions, has moved to England to study at Liverpool John Moores University.

Nevertheless, he will be taking charge of matches at Championship level next season and is also an experienced video assistant referee.

Gillett produced an unfussy display in which he was happy to let 50-50 challenges go unpunished, use the advantage rule sensibly and explain to players why he made the decision he did – most notably when awarding the Shrimps a first-half penalty.

Having been the victim of some contentious decisions during the course of the season, Bentley was only happy to dish out the praise.

He said: “I thought he did very well, I’ve just been in to see him.

“A sign of a good referee is when you don’t really know that they’re there.

“Obviously, other people might speak differently.

“Did anything go against us? Not really. Were we given a leg-up in any area? I don’t think so.

“I think it was a penalty and he just got on with the job in hand – dead efficient, dead calm and, as I say, in a game like this and the feelgood factor that we’ve had, you don’t want people coming away talking about the referee.

“I thought it was one of those games where you probably didn’t even know he was there.

“He got all the decisions right in my opinion.

“I’ve been a little bit critical of them at times. They do have a very, very tough job and I do get that.

“We’ve had quite a few decisions go against us this season but he was top notch, so fair play to him.”