Stevenage boss Steve Evans has claimed that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta would have lost his head again if he saw the refereeing decisions his side faced in their 2-1 defeat at Portsmouth on Monday.
Portsmouth edged out Stevenage 2-1 in a close game at Fratton Park on New Year’s Day to move to sit on summit of the League One standings.
However, Evans was left raging by some of the decisions the referee made in the second half, which he felt directly affected the result.
The Stevenage boss believes his side should have been awarded a penalty kick after the break and Marlon Pack should have been shown a second yellow card for committing a professional foul.
Evans stressed that the referee was aware of his poor performance and was one of the reasons why he did not want to meet him after the game.
He alluded to Arteta getting away without any sanctions from the FA after he criticised the referee following a game at Newcastle United earlier in the season.
The Stevenage manager feels the Arsenal boss would have completely lost it if he saw what happened at Fratton Park on Monday.
Evans told reporters after the game: “I have done nothing wrong and I said I’d see you but he said, you won’t be coming in because you are not welcome.
“He knows why he can’t see me today; the facts don’t lie, the video today won’t lie and he will have another game on Saturday, he will be walking as he does and strutting his stuff about.
“His performance was shocking today.
“Mikel Arteta can say what he wants about the decisions at Newcastle, but if he was here today, the FA would be finding him not guilty again and say he is a great guy.
“If he was here today, he would have lost the plot because the decisions in the second half by Charles Breakspear were disgraceful.”
Stevenage are sitting seventh in League One and are very much involved in the race to finish in the playoff spots.
