Jewell blasts Attwell display

DERBY manager Paul Jewell was furious with referee Stuart Attwell after a tempestuous 1-1 draw with east midlands rivals Nottingham Forest yesterday.

Miles Addison headed home from a Derby corner in injury time of the Championship clash at Pride Park but Attwell decided he had spotted an infringement inside the box and the goal was chalked off.

It is not the first time Attwell has been involved in controversy this season having awarded the now infamous ‘ghost goal’ in Watford’s 2-2 draw against Reading at Vicarage Road on September 20.

The Warwickshire official made a series of baffling decisions, harshly showing Forest midfielder Lewis McGugan a straight red card in the 74th minute for a foul on Paul Green and awarding the Rams a contentious penalty after Adam Chambers was judged to have handled inside the box.

“The referee said it was push but he is guessing,” Jewell said. “You wouldn’t even need video technology to see that it was clearly a perfectly good goal. This referee gave the most unbelievable decision I’ve ever seen when Reading played Watford. He’s taken off the Premier League to get his confidence back and they give a game of this magnitude which is wrong.’’

Forest had opened the scoring when Rams striker Emanuel Villa put through his own net in the 54th minute but the Argentinian made amends 11 minutes later with the equaliser after he finished well from close range.

Meanwhile Wolves moved four points clear at the top of the Championship on Saturday with a 2-1 win at Cardiff.

The leaders got off to the best possible start with goals from Chris Iwelumo and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake inside eight minutes, and then held on for all three points after Ross McCormack halved the deficit.

Alan Pardew vowed to fight on after Charlton fans called for his head during their 3-1 home defeat by Barnsley.

“This is a tough week for me,” Pardew said. “I need to make some big decisions because that’s where we are now. It’s no good crawling under a stone and hiding.”

Reading demolished Bristol City 4-1 at Ashton Gate to move back up to third with goals from Kevin Doyle (2), Noel Hunt and Kalifa Cisse.

Southampton fought back from two down to defeat Preston 3-2, with David McGoldrick sealing the points in the last minute of normal time, and Burnley’s good form continued with a 2-0 win over Norwich at Turf Moor.

Blackpool claimed a dramatic 4-3 win at Watford and James Beattie’s double was enough for Sheffield United to beat Plymouth 2-0.

A Jon Stead double saw Ipswich beat QPR by the same scoreline while bottom side Doncaster claimed a point by holding Swansea to a goalless draw. Crystal Palace drew 1-1 with Sheffield Wednesday.