Former referee Keith Hackett has criticised Lee Mason for his performance in West Ham's 3-2 defeat at Southampton on Saturday.
Hackett, who was in charge of the 1991 FA Cup semi final during which Tony Gale was infamously sent off (and has a KUMB Award named after him as a result) hit our at Mason following his performance in Saturday's Premier League clash at St Mary's.Embed from Getty Images
Critical of Mason's decision not to dismiss Mark Noble, Hackett also insisted that the decision to award the hosts a last minute penalty was "soft".
"The big talking point of the weekend, for me, was the performance of Lee Mason at Southampton," Hackeet told the Telegraph. "He really struggled and I've questioned his ability before to look comfortable and control a game at Premier League level.
"Mason is a very experienced official but he doesn't relax. Mark Noble was clearly off the ground with two feet and it was a clear red card for the challenge on Mario Lemina, yet the referee lets it go.
"By allowing Noble to get away with it, other players suddenly think they can take control, and we'd already seen an outrageous elbow from Marko Arnautovic, which got him sent off.
"Then there was the penalty, for Southampton's winning goal, which we all feel was a soft one. But when the referee has an indifferent performance and he makes the big calls, they are questioned by all of us."
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Hackett also called for assistant referees to be granted accees to video replays, as is the case now with both rugby and cricket.
"As the season unfolds, with a limited number of top referees since we've lost Mark Clattenburg, it will only become more important that we utilise it," he insisted.
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