“It’s crazy” – John Swift issues criticism of individual following Reading FC defeat to Blackpool

Reading midfielder John Swift has slammed referee Peter Bankes for decisions he made in the Royals’ 4-1 loss to Blackpool on Saturday afternoon.

After winning two matches on the bounce against Preston North End and Birmingham City, Reading lost out to the Seasiders and it was an unhappy return to Bloomfield Road for interim manager Paul Ince, who was once in charge of the Tangerines.

Reading actually went into the lead in the first half through Lucas Joao, with the striker continuing his rich vein of scoring form.

Marvin Ekpiteta though equalised before half-time and then further strikes from Gary Madine, Shayne Lavery and Josh Bowler sealed the points for Neil Critchley’s side.

Unlike the games against PNE and Birmingham, Swift couldn’t add a goal contribution to his tally against Blackpool but he took issue with the referee for some of the decisions he made – notably for Madine’s headed goal where he seemed to use Michael Morrison’s shoulders as leverage for his leap.

“It is the small margins. Their second goal gave them the momentum in the second half – it came against the run of play. And it’s crazy that the referee gave a foul against Morro (Michael Morrison) in the middle of the pitch but gave him nothing when he was being climbed on in the six-yard box,” Swift told the club’s official website.

“Little things like that make you even more frustrated, because we were in the game and looking to go ahead – then the referee makes a decision like that.

“It’s quite tough to take, but we shouldn’t let our heads drop. We’ve been guilty of that in the past, and we don’t want to get into the way we were before.”

The Verdict

You never really want to blame the referee for a downfall of a result but it seems like Reading have