YOU do not need Steve Evans to confirm that referee Paul Curry had a shocker at Field Mill on Saturday – just ask his wife!

Evans chose his words carefully after Crawley made a disappointing start to the Blue Square premier campaign and was quick to point out that a ruthless Mansfield exposed the shortcomings in a new-look team containing six league debutants.

The scoreline flattered the Stags but they were helped by a couple of refereeing blunders at crucial times.

After 15 minutes Karl Broadhurst was left on the turf after Rob Duffy accidentally whacked him on the side of the head, drawing blood.

But instead of stopping the game for an obvious head injury he allowed Kyle Perry to charge into the box.

By this time Broadhurst had staggered to his feet but to complete his misery Perry’s shot struck his outstretched leg as he tried to block and it looped over Simon Rayner.

It got worse. Two minutes before the break Duffy looked as astonished as everyone else in the ground to be given onside when it looked as if he was at least five yards off. He made no mistake, adding to Perry’s simple second two minutes later. Game over.

Evans had calmed down 30 minutes after the final whistle, but not much.

He said: “I’ve got to be careful what I say but my wife watched the game and she thought it was the worst refereeing performance she has seen.

It’s not often a woman is right about football and Mrs Evans wouldn’t know who he was if Ronaldo was sitting next to her but she was right about what she saw.

“(Mansfield manager) David Holdsworth is an honest man and he said he would have been disappointed had both goals been given against his side.

“They got the breaks but they are a good team and their fans were magnificent. But when they got the first we had started to get on top. It changed the game but there was bizarre decisions throughout.”

As he climbed the team bus Broadhurst looked as if he had just stepped out of the ring, not off a football pitch.

He said: “I got a whack on the side of the head, went down and when it’s a head injury the referee should stop play. Simon Rayner was shouting “I need you” so I got up even though I was still holding my face, the guy got his shot in, I have stuck a leg out to block it and it has looped over the keeper. It knocked the stuffing out of us.

“The third goal was ridiculously offside. I was the furthest forward but when I asked the linesman he was pointing at me. We can’t make any excuses though – we were poor but the good thing about football is you get a quick opportunity to put things right.”

Evans had his players back on the training ground yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s home match against Forest Green Rovers and admitted there is plenty of work to do.

Three of the new faces – Broadhurst, Ben Smith and Danny Powell – only arrived this week and it was obvious which side had the more settled pre-season.

Evans went for a surprisingly attacking formation, effectively playing four strikers, but his central midfielders Smith and Eddie Hutchinson were over-run at times while Chris Giles, who came in because skipper Adam Quinn was nursing a calf strain, had a torrid time against Mansfield’s front two.

Perry exploited a huge gap down the middle when he latched onto Craig Armstrong’s ball to make it 2-0 on 41 minutes and substitute Jake Speight finished things off with the fourth seven minutes from time.

Evans added: “We can’t hide from the fact that we didn’t play well but we don‘t think we’ve had any justice either.”

Like Mr Curry, Crawley’s season can only get better.

Mansfield Town: Marriott, Gardner, Jones, Garner, Armstrong; Briscoe (sub: Speight 65), Mills (sub: Somner 9), Nix, Williams; Duffy (Clare 73), Perry. Unused subs: Sandercombe, Graham.

Crawley: Rayner; Wilson (sub: Rusk 16), Broadhurst, Giles, Rents; Powell (Malcolm 51), Smith (Cogan 51), Hutchinson; Cook; Louis, Ademeno. Unused subs: Forrest, Jordan.

Referee: P. Curry (Essex)