Referee Steve Cummins has been at the centre of controversy before.

The Cheshire official, who showed two yellow cards to Barrow’s Nat Kerr without sending him off against Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium last Saturday, had another nightmare in this season’s Barclays Premier Reserve League game between Liverpool Res and Everton Res, which Everton won 3-2.

The Liverpool Echo reported: “Fortunately, football ended up being the main talking point, but referee Steve Cummins almost changed that fact with an individual performance that could at best described as comical – and at worst inept.

“Aside from making nine bookings when there was no sign of a malicious tackle from either side, he failed to award a penalty when James Vaughan was brought down by Mikel San Jose and somehow conjured up six minutes of added time.

“His most alarming blunder, however, was allowing Liverpool to re-start the game after Lee Molyneux’s goal, while several Everton players were still celebrating in the opposition half.

“It left referee’s assessor Roger Dilkes with a furrowed brow.”