IRATE Harry Arter felt referee Mark Heywood had allowed the Derby crowd to influence his judgement after Cherries’ contentious late setback on Saturday.

Arter joined the plethora of players who questioned the award of the free kick which Chris Martin rifled home to settle the verdict for the hosts at Pride Park.

And following the 1-0 reverse, the in-form Cherries midfielder felt an accumulation of pressure from the home crowd had ultimately swung key decisions in County’s favour.

Discussing the free kick which led to the goal, Arter told the Daily Echo: “It was clean tackle. There might have been a foul on the boy before Tommy’s challenge but he has clearly won the ball.

“With the momentum of the fans and the momentum of the player, it was a situation where everybody seemed to think it was a free kick but if it was at our ground with a stronger referee I don’t think it would have been given.

“I don’t want to be overly critical of match officials because we all know what a difficult job it is.

“But if I have a bad game or give away a goal, I would get punished by my manager. He (Heywood) has made a mistake and given them a goal. The decision has killed us and cost us a point.

“Throughout the game, I felt he was swayed by the home fans.

"If an official makes an honest mistake, that’s fine, you just want a strong official and I don’t think he was at all strong.

“I thought we had done enough to get a draw so it was really disappointing to come away with nothing.

“With four minutes to go we had a point and it took a really good free kick to beat us.”