Axe falls on bungling officials

Hackett partially balanced his acceptance of accountability by taking issue with players pressurising referees - as Chelsea's appeared to do in the stormy 1-1 draw with Liverpool - but offered no excuses for their mistakes.

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Besides dropping Styles for wrongly awarding Chelsea an equalising penalty, the refereeing supremo has grounded the linesman who failed to see Fulham 'score' a late equaliser in their 2-1 home defeat by Middlesbrough.

Hackett left a message with Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez and spoke to Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez to admit to the errors.

'I'm very disappointed with the two decisions,' said Hackett. 'There is accountability, so Rob Styles will not referee at any level this weekend. Equally, the assistant referee who failed to award the goal to Fulham showed really bad judgment.'

Linesman Ian Gosling could face several weeks off the Premier League list for not responding when Fulham striker David Healy's effort crossed the line.

But Styles' performance at Anfield - in the latest powderkeg meeting between Liverpool and Chelsea - was an even bigger worry for Hackett.

While Gosling erred on a difficult call, Styles's penalty award - when Chelsea's Florent Malouda ran into Steve Finnan - was inexplicable. So, too, was his apparent showing of a second yellow card to Chelsea's Michael Essien, who was amazed to be allowed to stay on the field.

A suitably sheepish Styles made no mention of the Essien fiasco in his report to the FA, who treated it as an aberrational moment in confirming that John Terry was the only player booked in the incident.

Hackett, who will conduct a no-holds-barred meeting with all his senior referees today, is demanding improvement.

'There is an expectation on them to get the big decisions right,' he said. 'Clearly the award of a penalty to Chelsea was wrong. I've spoken to Rob and he ' s extremely disappointed. He's had an opportunity to look at the video and accepted the need to make a public apology.

' I've also apologised to the manager of Liverpool and I've spoken to Lawrie Sanchez, who called me to ask my opinion of the incident in the Fulham-Middlesbrough game.

'The ball crossed the line and it wasn't given. The assistant was ideally placed - there was no one blocking his view.'

Substitute referee Andy D'Urso, who took over from the injured Lee Mason, was absolved of blame. However, a third referee, Premier League newcomer Steve Tanner, has been assigned Saturday's lowkey Championship fixture between Preston and Colchester, which may not be unconnected with his series of bad calls in Portsmouth's 3-1 home win over Bolton.

After his swift action, Hackett feels entitled to voice a complaint in return - over the sort of mass confrontation facing referees that Styles had to put up with from four Chelsea players after booking Terry.

'I'm not happy about the poor behaviour of players surrounding the referee,' he said. 'Referees can either caution players or report the matter. This will be a subject of discussion and debate.'

Hackett is likely to order officials to take a tougher line in future but his main thrust is one of admonition of referees. 'Decisions involve human beings and the human eye, neither of which is infallible,' he added. 'But you hope officials don't make this level of error.

'I have to work on referees to get them back to form. Rob Styles is an experienced match official but it's the same as when a player has a bad game and gets dropped. This is part of a learning curve for referees.'

Meanwhile, a 62-year-old spectator who was plucked from the crowd to be the stand-in fourth official when Mason was injured at Fulham defended those in charge of the Craven Cottage game.

Ken Coniam answered a stadium announcement for 'a qualified referee to make himself known to a steward' and was embroiled in the disputed Healy strike.

The grandfather of six from Watford said: 'I didn't see it from where I was. If a man doesn't see the ball crossing the line clearly, how can he give it? You can't guess. 'I'm an old fashioned referee, really, but I'm in favour of introducing technology if it can quickly help the officials. But it shouldn't be for everything - if you take away the controversy, what would we talk about in the pub?'

Coniam, who describes the Hertfordshire Senior Cup Final as the biggest game he has refereed, enjoyed his Craven Cottage experience, despite having a run-in with the Boro bench over confusion with a substitution.

'It got a bit heated but it's a passionate game,' he said. 'Both sides want to win and everyone is under a lot of pressure. You have to be a bit thick-skinned.

'I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd do it again. I was just hoping no one else would go down injured because I've never run the line in my shirt and trousers.'