YASER Kasim feels a relatively low standard of refereeing has contributed to Swindon Town’s rising total of bookings for dissent this season.

Kasim will miss two matches for the League One Robins after picking up his 10th yellow card of the campaign after chatting back to whistleblower Paul Tierney at Peterborough United on Wednesday night.

Many of his Swindon teammates have been cautioned for things they have said rather than done on the pitch this term but, though Kasim stressed he does not go onto the field of play looking to pick a fight with officials, he suggested that the quality of officiating in recent months has left players concerned.

Speaking about his booking at London Road, the Iraqi told the Advertiser: “I was just really into the game and I got a bit angry at the referee, and I felt like saying things weren’t going our way. Obviously he got really angry, maybe because of the pressure and because it’s on TV.

“You don’t go out and try to have arguments with the referee. I spoke to him (Tierney) throughout the game and he was talking fine but I think because of the standard of refereeing we’ve had throughout the season – I’ve never experienced this standard, which is quite bad – when you go out there you’ve got a little bit of doubt that this guy’s going to face up.

“In a cup game, with a lot of pressure, a 50-50 game which could go either way, you get into it in the moment and, before you know it, he’s losing his cool because he’s getting so much pressure in the situation. You’re a player and you’re fighting to win.

“It could be down to the standard of refereeing. I’m not going to have a go at any referee because it is a tough job but the standard of refereeing has put a lot of doubt in my mind as to whether they can officiate the game.”

Kasim, who has made 34 appearances during a breakout season with Swindon, was unsurprisingly frustrated that he will have to watch Town’s next two outings from the sidelines.

He said: “Obviously I don’t like it because I like to play with momentum, game after game and training session after training session looking forward to games and it slows down my momentum quite a bit, but I’m still looking forward to when I get back even if it’s a bit annoying.

“In midfield you’ve got to make tackles to stop counter attacks and slow the game down so it’s going to happen, you’re going to get quite a few yellows.”