Macclesfield boss John Askey calls for ref to be suspended after “worst decision ever”

JOHN ASKEY says the decision to abandon Macclesfield’s game against Dover on Saturday was “the worst decision ever” – and the frustrated boss called for referee Antony Coggins to be suspended.

Macc were leading 1-0 at the Moss Rose thanks to Danny Rowe’s first-half effort but visibility worsened after the break and play was temporarily called to a halt in the 55th minute.

However, with conditions failing to improve enough for the match official, Coggins abandoned the game shortly after, much to the frustration of Silkmen boss Askey.

The fog seemed to clear up soon after but with the decision already made, the game will have to be replayed at a later date, leaving Dover to make the 500-mile round-trip in midweek.

Askey didn’t hold back after the postponement, saying: “It is probably the worst decision there has ever been in football.

“That’s not an overstatement, normally you call a game off because you can’t play but the weather has got better, it’s better now than when we started.

“It’s just a ludicrous decision and I just hope the referee gets reported and gets suspended.

“The referee said it was getting that we couldn’t see the ball so we came off for 15 minutes and if it got better we would restart the game.

“You can clearly see both goals and the pitch and there is no reason why you would call the game off.”