MARK HALSEY: Bolton are having no luck with refereeing decisions

I cannot for the life of me understand why Preston’s Calum Woods was not sent off for his challenge on Max Clayton on Saturday night. A clearer case of denying a goalscoring opportunity you’d never wish to see.

It’s a complete opposite to Prince-Desire Gouano’s red card against Leeds United, where you could see the covering defender, or the one successfully appealed on the same weekend by Newcastle United for Fabricio Coloccini.

Clayton has gone across the defender and the ball is clearly still at his feet. He hasn’t lost control.

In my opinion, if the referee gives a foul there, he has to give the red card. There is no other choice in the laws of the game.

I’m struggling to see what Dean Whitestone’s assistant might have said to him to talk him out of issuing a red card to Woods. Usually in that situation, even if a referee is 25-30 yards behind play he’s watching the two players and mentally pre-judging it: “If he brings him down here, he’s off.”

The challenge marked every single criteria laid down by law as a denial of a clear and obvious goalscoring opportunity – Clayton had the ball under control and would have been heading in on the goalkeeper, no question.

In that instance, the only reason you might need to speak with your assistant is to check whether the challenge took place inside or outside the area. In this case, there was no doubt it was outside.

I feel for Neil at the moment because when you are down there at the bottom end of the table, every single decision like that seems magnified.

I’m still very, very surprised that someone at the club did not advise him to appeal the Prince red card last week. I think, like Coloccini’s, it would have been overturned.

You have to hope that Bolton’s luck will turn at some point and that maybe they’ll be on the right end of one of these decisions. But I’m sure the manager knows his players have got to help themselves and not rely on things just falling for them.

The point at which Woods was sent off could have made a difference in the game but Bolton fans and the manager know full well there were other chances to take three points from that game.

Just like refereeing it can sometimes come down to focus and I hope Bolton’s players have got their eye on what’s important: Getting points and escaping that bottom three in the Championship, regardless of how hard done to they might feel at times.

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HOW on earth can Howard Webb criticise Mark Clattenburg for adding on too much time in the Liverpool v Chelsea game?

A referee with that much experience knows full well that regardless of the number of minutes flashed up on the fourth official’s board, it is down to the man in the middle to use his discretion. It is a minimum suggested amount.

Chelsea were upset that after two minutes had been displayed, Mark opted to play 2mins 25secs, during which time Liverpool scored.

Now that’s the kind of kick in the teeth Jose Mourinho is getting at the moment but he’ll know his players should have been mentally tougher and held out an extra half a minute. It’s no use blaming the referee.

Howard should know what it says in the laws of the game, too. The referee is allowed to make allowances for all kinds of things, so to come out and criticise Mark on BT Sport is really rather surprising.

The Football Association is certainly getting its money’s worth out of Jose at the moment. I read the other day that he’d stumped up £140,000 in fines over the last month. I’d hope that money goes towards improving the standard of refereeing somewhere down the line.

Talking of which, I spent a lovely weekend in Derry, Ireland, giving a seminar to local referees with youaretheref.com.

I bumped into David Healy, who is managing over there, and had a great chat about the problems and pitfalls of the profession. He wasn’t short of an opinion – and I remember him being a pain in the behind when he was out there on the pitch.

It’s a lovely city and after watching Dungannon Swifts play against Linfield I thought the standard was very good.

I did three talks: Decision-making, management of the game and motivation. I think it went well and I’d like to thank them for their lovely welcome.

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EMPATHY continues to drain out of the game at the top level, with yellow cards being thrown around like confetti at the moment.

But I have to wonder whether we need to start educating the media just as much as we do our own officials?

I’m sick and tired of watching pundits scream for a referee to give a caution for offences that just need to be managed.

A perfect case in point came in the Southampton v Bournemouth game. Victor Wanyama was terrific but picked up two very cheap cautions from Craig Pawson, who in my opinion could have used more common-sense, particularly with the second, which was a careless challenge, not a reckless one.

The more cards referees dish out, constrained as they are by the evaluation system used by the referees' governing body the PGMOL, the more the media will expect this to be the norm.

Pretty soon, any sort of human element will be taken out of refereeing and the sport will suffer as a result.

It’s no wonder that managers are becoming more and more frustrated.

Tony Pulis has ended up in trouble with the FA this week after voicing his opinion on two penalties not given by Anthony Taylor in his game against Leicester City. I tend to agree with his view and understand his emotions – I’ve certainly been on the end of them in my time.

Anthony has had a good season but I think his recognition of both incidents was poor in this case.

The last person Pulis probably wants to see this weekend is Mike Dean, who is in charge of West Brom’s trip to Manchester United. The two have history but with a charge hanging over his head, you can probably expect Tony to bite his lip.

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I THINK we saw a little bit of naivety in Robert Madley’s handling of Manchester City v Norwich City last weekend.

A week after his decision to send of Fabricio Coloccini of Newcastle United in the North East derby was overturned, he was perhaps too eager to lay down the letter of the law at the Etihad.

As the home side piled on the pressure late in the game Madley issued a red card to Russell Martin for handball on the line – correct in itself – but I would like to have seen him pull play back for a foul by John Ruddy a few seconds earlier; that way he could have issued a penalty to City, and kept 11 players on the pitch.

Perhaps with that bit of experience that’s what he would have chosen to do?

Paul Tierney has been chosen to referee the Everton v West Ham game, which is a big call from the PGMOL.

The two teams are not local rivals but I can say with experience, that is a really big game. Hopefully he passes the test but it’s a tough ask in what is only his fourth top-flight game this season.

Finally, Lee Mason finds himself at Bournemouth this weekend, as Eddie Howe’s side host Newcastle United. There’s a lot riding on that one, and Lee will definitely have to have his wits about him.