Club commentator Phil Bird returns with his weekly look at the world of football...

SKY got their customary five goals from our live TV game on Monday (I make it seven in a row now!) but it's Barnsley's second goal that will live long in the memory.

Simon Whaley was miles offside and the ball hit his arm on the way in. It's a monumental mistake by the officials and a game changing decision. I'm afraid referee Nigel Miller and assistant Jock Waugh got this terribly wrong.

The linesman has suggested his view was blocked, but millions of TV viewers will have seen that wasn't the case. There was another two offside Barnsley players in the hapless officials' way!

Miller carries his share of the blame. He should have seen the handball and he should have had the grace, and common sense, to speak to his assistant. Despite polite requests he didn't consult with his look-alike linesman. He was more interested in getting players away from his assistant than speaking to that very same man!

Each and every day we hear cries for respect for referees. Simply that won't happen until they get basic, key decisions right.

And, it works both ways. Burnley FC, at the very least, deserves an apology from Monday's officials.

In some ways it was nearly as bad as the `phantom goal` at Vicarage Road early this season. Just like Reading's `goal` that day, this was 100% invalid but I suppose, at least it went into the goal!

It's simply not good enough. It's the 21st century, football is big business we can't continue to get these decisions wrong.

Don't tell me we have had problems like this for years. The youth of today won't accept such inaccuracies. It's a new technological world.

Gone are the days when only a handful of games had TV coverage.

This is 2008, every Football League game is filmed with minimum effort that footage could be accessible to a 5th official in the stand who can be in constant communication with the man in the middle.

Football is a million miles behind both rugby codes. It's time for change and fast! Otherwise supporters will desert the game in droves.

"These things even themselves out" is a football cliché you will hear almost every day.

Rubbish! If we were to wait for an offside/handball goal like that in our favour we are going to watch the clock go round and round into our dotage!

Let's start training ex footballers to take up the whistle. There must be hundreds of young players who are released early on in their careers, who, with the correct training, would make young, fit officials.

Something has to be done because the current standard is way, way short of the mark.

It's no wonder we haven't won at Oakwell since 1932!

It seems everything conspires against us in that part of Yorkshire. Kevin Lynch had red card turrets in 1994-95.

And somehow Iain Williamson missed the most blatant of handballs by a diving defender to deny Gifton Noel Williams on Boxing Day 2006.

Inevitably we will feel hard done by. Poor refereeing has probably cost us dear.

However, we do need to accept Barnsley did dominate after Jon Macken's goal.

We regained the initiative after we brought on Martin Paterson and Kevin McDonald but in between we struggled.

In the last 20 minutes or so the Clarets were magnificent and we could have won the game but for some inspired keeping from Heinz Muller.

His save off Chris McCann was nothing short of sensational. With two games in 72 hours, tired legs were always going to play a part.

Fresh from the bench, Paterson and McDonald will have done their starting chances against Derby County no harm whatsoever.

At least in the Championship fixtures come around very quickly.

The home fixtures against Derby and Arsenal are massive games. I'm backing us to bounce back after Monday night's disappointment.

The views expressed in this article are those of Mr P Bird and do not necessarily represent those of Burnley Football Club.