Mark Halsey: Duncan's performance in Macron derby was an object lesson for all referees

I thought watching it that a few of the select group of referees should take note of how he managed the occasion and the players.

Okay, he missed an early challenge on Chungy and possibly let himself down a little when he cautioned Neil Danns in the first half but maybe he thought that might nip things in the bud and set the tone.

Overall, it was nice to see an official take the derby factor into consideration.

The penalty decision was interesting and he called it right. It was nailed on for me.

There was some debate about it with many players and managers accepting there will be an amount of grappling in the box but when you put your arms around a player in this day and age, you run the risk of a penalty or free kick. You are asking the referee to make a decision so you have to say the Wigan defender was at fault there.

Bolton went on to score the penalty and what another great win it was for them.

It is great to see the players with smiles back on their faces and enjoying their football again so you have to say well done to Neil Lennon for that.

It just shows when you have a happy squad in training and in the dressing room, you get the rewards on the pitch and we are certainly seeing that at the Macron Stadium.

Bolton has always been a family club and that is definitely coming back now. That can only be good for Bolton as they look to move forward and up the table because having a good mood around the place goes a long way in football.

ROBERTO Martinez was frustrated after Everton’s draw with Sunderland on Sunday and you can sympathise with him a little.

He felt Sunderland should have been down to nine men with Connor Wickham and Jordi Gomez sent off.

It was Bolton referee Lee Mason in charge and he got it wrong for me. How he has not sent off Wickham is strange. It was a clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity on Seamus Coleman. He gave the penalty but should have sent Wickham off because that is what the law states.

It can sometimes be about concentration levels for a referee and there are times you can manage events in a game on your own. But your assistants are also there to help and I would like to have thought Lee would have had help from his assistants.

I have been in that position and you do need help sometimes in those situations. It is a nailed on red card but Lee did not take any action so he must not have thought it was a clear and obvious goalscoring opportunity He was maybe unlucky with the Jordi Gomez incident that earned him his yellow card. In real time you can understand why it was a yellow card but when you see it again slowed down, it is a red card offence.

Then Gomez could have got a second yellow when he goes down on the edge of the box. Lee looked like he felt he simulated and put his whistle to his mouth before then taking it out. I suspect he probably realised that he had already cautioned him.

But you can avoid any confusion if you are unsure by just playing on.

There was penalty controversy at Anfield as well in the big game between Liverpool and Chelsea.

On two occasions, it was former Bolton defender Gary Cahill involved with handball claims from the home side and I think referee Anthony Taylor may realise watching it back he should have given the second one that happened late on.

The first one Cahill leaned his shoulder into the ball – it was not like the Alcaraz ‘save’ for Everton against Swansea last weekend and you could give Cahill the benefit of the doubt.

But the second one saw him move his arm towards the ball to make himself bigger and for me that should have been given.

Anthony Taylor had a clear view of that and how he has not seen it I will never know.

Sometimes referees switch off late in games but, to be fair, other than that I thought he managed a big match well.

One thing that did help him was the goal line technology.

I am a big advocate of using the technology available and it proved its uses at Anfield when Cahill scored Chelsea’s equaliser.

The keeper could not keep it out but without the technology that would never have been given. It was impossible for the referee or the assistants to see through the bodies and judge that was definitely over the line because at first glance you could not be sure.

Thankfully, the technology is now there and within seconds it proved it was a goal.

THERE is no question in my mind that decision of the season so far has to go to Mike Dean’s assistant at the QPR versus Manchester City match on Saturday evening.

Just how John Brooks saw that Joe Hart kicked the ball twice in the box is incredible. There was no way Mike could have spotted that from where he was.

It just shows the high concentration levels of the officials.

It was the correct call as well. The law says that once the ball is touched from a free-kick inside the box, it has to leave the penalty area. The ball is not deemed to be in play until it has gone outside the box so the correct decision is to have it retaken.

If it had happened outside the box then it would have been an indirect free kick to QPR.

To be fair to Joe, he knew the law as well and you could see him saying he had touched it twice before Charlie Austin fired it back past him and the goal was correctly disallowed.

It has happened before – in the League Cup final between Bolton and Middlesbrough in Cardiff in 2004. I think it was Bolo Zenden who slipped taking a penalty but Mike Riley didn’t spot it at the time.

We have also seen incident recently when a free-kick has been retaken by a keeper and a goal disallowed in similar circumstances.

This time it was QPR keeper Rob Green in the game with West Ham.

THE FA Cup first round kicked off at the weekend and there was a real sense of excitement up and down the country as the league clubs entered the competition.

I used to love refereeing in the FA Cup – it gives you the same buzz as it does the players to be taking part in the famous competition.

I remember my first ever FA Cup first round tie. It was a match between Farnborough and Dagenham and Redbridge and that was a real tough game to referee. I think I showed a red card and issued numerous cautions.

As I moved up to the Premier League list, we used to be like the top two divisions and come into the cup at the third round as referees.

I used to love watching the third round draw like fans and players still do. You would watch as a referee and as the ties came out, you thought to yourself you fancied being picked to referee this game or that one.

There were some shocks last weekend as there always is. I was pleased that Bury avoided one though – just as it turned out.

They played Hemel Hempstead Town which is not too far away from where I am from – Welwyn Garden City.

They will have had a great day out and they even took the lead but the Shakers kept going and won it late on.

It is good to see another family club and local side doing well under Bolton lad David Flitcroft.