COLIN Todd has fired a rocket at Sky TV for meddling in the middle of Friday night's top of the table Roses battle at Barnsley.

The Burnden boss slammed the TV company for telling referee Mike Bailey at half-time that he blundered when he awarded Wanderers a penalty after just 75 seconds.

A Sky reporter told the Cambridge official that action replays made it clear that Steve Davis's foul on Alan Thompson had occurred well outside the penalty area.

Mr Bailey later awarded Barnsley a controversial penalty against Wanderers for a foul by Gerry Taggart on John Hendrie, which also appeared to take place outside the area. The penalty secured Barnsley a 2-2 draw after they had trailed 2-0. Todd, who refused to criticise the referee on the night and supported him in the so-called "trial by television" debate, has since learned of the half-time intervention by Sky, which he described as "diabolical"

"They should be there to cover the football game, not to influence decisions," the Wanderers boss rapped.

"It's unfair on a referee to be put under that sort of pressure in the middle of a game. He should be left to concentrate on the job he is doing and shouldn't be influenced by the media at half time. If they want to bring things to his attention and discuss decisions with him after the game, as we do, then okay.

"But telling him he'd made a mikstake at half-time could have influenced the decisions he was going to make in the second half."

The Evening News has been inundated with calls complaining of Sky's intervention.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.