'Beyond a joke' - Blackpool boss enraged by Portsmouth incident involving Preston-linked duo

Blackpool manager Neil Critchley was left furious by an incident involving ex-Preston North End defender Joe Rafferty - as well as Preston-born referee, Ed Duckworth.

The Lilywhites' arch-rivals drew 0-0 with League One leaders, Portsmouth, last Saturday afternoon. Two minutes before half time, the Seasiders were reduced to ten men as Jordan Rhodes received the first red card of his career.

That was after the 34-year-old contested for a bouncing ball with Rafferty and led with his arm, before the ex-PNE man went down, holding his face. Rhodes was shown a straight red by Duckworth - who was taking charge of his 26th game of the season. The dismissal of Rhodes was his sixth of the campaign and the decision left Critchley incensed.

"I thought the game was too much for the ref anyway - for both teams the decisions were bewildering, but as per usual it’s us who are on the end of the major decision in the game,” said Critchley. "It’s happened countless times, we’ve had three written apologies this season, but it might be four now. There’s no point speaking to them, as all I do is get myself in trouble. I made my feelings clear at half time, but that was probably letting off a bit of steam.

I couldn’t believe... I was actually shouting for a foul on Jake Beesley. It was clear, as the ball goes up and as he turns, he’s dragged to the ground. Then you see Rhodesy compete for the ball and it’s a coming together, so I’m thinking it’s just a foul. But, when I turned around the ref’s got the red card in his hand... I was in shock. It's an unbelievable decision. We shall appeal it obviously and we expect the authorities to see sense and do the right thing.

"It was a strange decision, everyone would agree with that. If the referee had done his job properly it wouldn’t have got to that point, and he wouldn’t have contested for the ball. He got one million and one decisions wrong and that was another one. I don’t think Jordan could believe what happened either. I don’t think the ref knows him very well, because he’s probably not been sent off too many times in his career.

"Joe Rafferty is a wily old campaigner - he knows exactly what he’s doing and unfortunately, the referee fell for it. It’s beyond a joke. We’re on the wrong end of so many huge decisions which make such a massive difference. We were in a position where we’re on top of the game, which doesn’t mean we’re going to win - anything can happen - but he spoiled a really good match. We had to sit in with 10 men hoping to hold on. It’s not the spectacle you want, but I’m not sure that’ll bother him."