Woman referee blasted by Hayes & Yeading boss

Mar 14 2010 By Paul Warburton

PONY-tailed Amy Fearn made a horse's ass of herself, according to Garry Haylock in the 0-0 draw between Hayes & Yeading and Grays on Saturday.

The United boss was fuming at the 31-year-old's handing of the game at the New Rec, blaming her for the drab draw that did neither side much good in the Blue Square Premier.

It cut no ice with Haylock that Fearn became the first woman to take charge of a Championship match last month when she took the whistle for the last 20 minutes in the match between Coventry and Nottingham Forest.

"She was surely the worst referee we've ever had," Haylock fumed. "If you're not good enough - don't come and do the job. She was truly awful. It didn't help that we came to a place like this where the bounce on the pitch made it difficult, and the small gound made it hard to make use of our wingers."

Steve Basham got a slight calf strain requiring the in-form striker to make way at half-time for a reshuffled H&Y that saw Nathan Webb and Toby Little on, with Justin Cochrane also sitting on the bench for the second period.

"In the circumstances, we did well to keep a clean sheet," claimed Haylock. "However, if the referee had got on top of the game from the off it would have been different - but she was weak all the way through."

Fearn produced a yellow card for Grays defender Kenny Davis after he felled Dale Binns early on, and then two more for Tom Cadmore and Binns himself in a stop-start affair that leaves H&Y in 14th and hapless Grays rooted to the foot of the table.