Kevin Nolan slams referee Ben Toner after Notts County held by Wycombe

Kevin Nolan labelled the decision to send him to the stands as “laughable” after watching his Notts County side play out a goalless draw with fellow promotion hunters Wycombe Wanderers.

The Magpies came closer to breaking the deadlock at Meadow Lane, twice hitting the post through Shola Ameobi and Elliott Hewitt.

But Nolan was sent to the stands by referee Ben Toner after protesting that County should have had a first-half penalty, when Adam El-Abd appeared to pull Ameobi’s shirt in the box.

And the Notts boss didn’t hold back in his disgust at the performance of the officials.

“I am fed up of talking about referees,” he said. “It’s happening too many times. I keep talking about them getting help but they can help themselves.

“The penalty decisions they are missing at the minute are blatant. I hate the fact I keep talking about them because I want to talk about my team and how good they’ve been.

“If he gives a penalty and we go 1-0 up that gets the crowd going. It’s a different game and Wycombe have to change their gameplan.

“It makes the game a lot better. For him to send me off for debating it was laughable and I told him that. It’s the first time I’ve ever been sent to the stands as manager.

“The fourth official didn’t want to talk to us when he’s supposed to be a go-between us and the ref. I just thought the whole team of them were really, really poor.”

Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth disagreed with his opposite number’s assessment and in fact praised referee Toner for his display.

“It was no-holds-barred stuff and I felt for the referee because he was getting it from all angles,” said Ainsworth.

“He’s obviously going to get a lot stick from the home fans, but I thought he stayed strong.

“One of the penalty decisions he did really well with because Shola Ameobi has grabbed our player from behind and rolled him. I think it was the right decision and the referee has handled the game well.”

And after seeing the Chairboys remain four points above County in the final automatic promotion spot, Ainsworth was content with the result.

“It was a full-blooded contest and it felt like a cup tie,” he added. “When you are at this stage of the season then you are going to get that.

“There were some big tackles going in and a point apiece is probably better for us because we are away from home.

“But we’ve got to back this up on Monday (against Grimsby) now and that’s not going to be easy because they are scrapping for their lives at the bottom.”