Barton: ref ‘conned’

[Stanley]

Barton wrote on Twitter shortly after the final whistle...

"Well feel for the officials, they've been conned. Admitted to me at HT they never saw it. I was pulled back 1st, then kicked 2nd!

Linesman definitely never saw it, all he seen was Johnsons reaction. My head dosent move forward at all. Ridiculous decision seen 25 replays.

I'd be 1st to apologise if I'd reacted. Cannot apologise as I know I've not head butted anyone. Disappointed for the lads and the fans.

Make ur own minds up when u see it. The games gone!"

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=afp-fbl_eng_pr_qpr_norwich_20120102

[Stanley]

Furious Warnock defends Barton

“It’s not easy to speak about it without getting carried away. Johnson hasn’t been headbutted at all – not in a million years. The movement of his [Johnson's] head has conned the linesman. I’ve been to see him [the referee] and he says he [Barton] headbutted him [Johnson]. But Johnson’s a clever man. To go back like he did was a disgrace. It didn’t warrant that reaction. Joey’s not daft enough to headbutt someone with every camera in the country on him – you’ve got to give him more credit. I’ve seen Johnson do that a few times, so it doesn’t surprise me. It’s getting a fellow pro sent off and that’s not on. I think he should be punished. And there were two vicious tackles on Joey – one just before he got sent off – and they weren’t even booked. He [Barton] shouldn’t put himself in that situation. But that doesn’t justify another professional getting him sent off like that.”

Barton believes the red card could be rescinded on appeal, but Warnock hinted that he is reluctant to challenge the decision.

“I’ve not got any confidence in the appeals procedure. We’ll talk about it. The lads were fantastic – and were against Arsenal too – and to get two defeats you don’t deserve knocks the stuffing out of you. We’ve got to regroup, hopefully get two or three players in, and look forward to the second half of the season. It’s easy to look at the table and be concerned, but I look at 10th and 11th and think we should be there already. We should have more points, and they would have put us in a really good position.”

http://www.westlondonsport.com/qpr/warnock-defends-barton-and-brands-norwich-citys-johnson-a-disgrace/?