According to the Lewisham and Greenwich News Shopper Phil Parkinson was left fuming with the officiating of Trevor Kettle after watching his Charlton Athletic side slip to a 2-1 defeat at the Memorial Stadium.

It reported how "within 30 seconds of kick-off, Dominic Blizzard came in extremely late on left-back Grant Basey, leaving the Wales youth international with what at first was feared to be a broken leg.

"And although the visitors looked second best up until a late surge saw Therry Racon net a consolation goal, Parky felt that several key decisions left his side on the back foot from the get-go."

Parkinson told the News Shopper: "It wasn't the greatest game we've been involved in. Starting with the challenge on Basey where if that's not a straight red card then I don't know what is.

"I haven't seen it on the telly but as soon as the tackle went in I thought the lad's got to be sent off and the referee's got to deal with that, from my memory he wasn't a long way away from the incident.

"I'll have to see it again on the TV but the ref's got to deal with that straight away and if he does it's a different game. I've seen a lot of lesser challenges than that in the Premier League that have resulted in a sending off.

"The frustrating thing is that there was a vociferous home crowd tonight who I thought basically refereed the game - every time they appealed, the ref blew his whistle.

"If the challenge on Basey had been the other way, our player would definitely have been sent off because the crowd would have influenced the referee.

"He's one of the most experienced referees and we've had him several times but I just felt that tonight he got it wrong."

Though the Basey challenge was by far the most controversial incident of the game, the 7,000 plus crowd as well as those watching at home on Sky TV saw several questionable calls from Mr. Kettle throughout.

Indeed, the game could easily have seen a penalty at each end in the first half, and among other things Parkinson wasn't pleased that Nicky Bailey wound up with a caution for diving.

Parkinson added: "I don't think Nicky would have gone down if he had a chance of getting the ball.

"The ref didn't do us any favours the whole night, and I think he capped it all when he put six minutes up at the end when we had one player stretchered off and one taken off with a head injury, four or five injuries overall.

"Bristol Rovers are a team who were low on confidence and with one more chance you never know, it could have been the three minutes we needed to get back into the game.

"Don't get me wrong, we gave Bristol Rovers two goals and we're disappointed with our defending, the discipline of some of our play and after going a goal behind we lost our composure on the ball and with everything going on around us.

"But, equally, I don't think we got any help at all on the night."

Walsall were looking for their first win in two months when they faced Rovers but the Wolverhampton Express and Star observed "inwardly they never pressed the panic button and nor did they need to.

The previous Saturday's stalemate between the sides had done little to suggest the follow up at the Memorial Stadium would be anything other than a similar turgid affair.

The Express and Star added: "Rovers, so good at home, were pressing - although had yet to seriously threaten - while the Saddlers hadn't had so much as a sniff of the Rovers goal.

"But with 27 minutes gone Dwayne Mattis had Mikkel Andersen scrambling before the Saddlers took the lead five minutes later.

It came from nothing as Nicholls' persistence saw him break clear of Jeff Hughes and, when his shot was blocked, Taundry was there to stroke in his first Walsall goal from 16 yards.

"With the home crowd subdued the visitors grew in confidence, Peter Till the beneficiary as the winger was granted the freedom of the Memorial Ground.

"Rovers had slowly deflated since Taundry's opener and were showing little signs of a fightback.

"The hosts were rattled. Ragged at the back, there was plenty of scope for the visitors to grab a second.

"Lumbering and ineffective going forward the only way Rovers looked like breaking the Saddlers down was from a set piece.

"And they had the opportunity to do just that when Vincent tripped Jo Kuffour in the area 10 minutes from time.

"It was typical of the Saddlers' recent luck but Ince came to the rescue, diving to his right to save Hughes' penalty and then reacting superbly to block Paul Heffernan's follow up."

It was the Saddlers' first win in nine outings and a deserved one, as they demonstrated impressive battling qualities. The Express and Star's final indictment of Rovers was to describe the home side as "average hosts."