PARK Avenue boss Mark Bower tries to avoid criticism of officials but was incensed by the man in the middle during last Sunday’s home defeat to Salford City.

Referee Martin Woods was presented with a dilemma midway through the first half when Salford’s captain and centre back Simon Grand fouled Nicky Boshell.

The experienced defender brought the Avenue forward down to halt the home side’s attack 30 yards from goal.

Bower was still seething after the 2-0 defeat and said: “I couldn’t believe the decision from the referee not to show their lad any card at all.

“He only had contact with the player in mind.

“He scythed Nicky down and it was from behind as well.

“The ref gave the free-kick but he took the defender to one side and gave him a talking to – nothing else!”

The Bradford manager spoke to the official as they walked off at half-time.

He was hoping to get some insight into the thought process behind the decision but was riled even further.

Bower claimed: “I told him that the challenge was bad enough for a straight red card never mind a yellow but the player had got away with it.

“He said he thought it was a bad challenge but gave their lad a warning because our player didn’t stay down!

“Now that is shocking. I told him as much as well. If we are at the stage where the referees want us to tell our players to go down and stay down.

“Roll around as though they are in pain just to show that they have been fouled, then the game is in a bad way.

“I don’t believe that we should go down that route and I don’t think that the game has sunk that low.”

Bower accepted promotion-chasing Salford City deserved to win and admitted his side had not displayed enough quality.

But the Avenue manager felt his team’s task had been made more difficult by the officiating.

He said: “That major incident is just one that I felt he definitely got wrong, but I thought he got other big calls wrong throughout the game.

“Usually a ref will make a big decision early in a game and you think ‘right, he’s not going to stand for anything like that’ and you can work with that.

“Alternatively he might let something go and the players, from both sides, know just what’s acceptable in the mind of the ref and they get on with it.

“Sunday’s ref seemed inconsistent to me. He gave something one way and then a different way when it happened again later.

“I didn’t go to see him after the game because I didn’t see the point.”