• Referee had been due to take charge of Gillingham v Millwall • Stroud made mistake in not awarding a penalty to be retaken against Burton

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The referee Keith Stroud will not take charge of the League One match between Gillingham and Millwall on Saturday after his mistake in not awarding a penalty to be retaken in the Newcastle United v Burton Albion match on Wednesday.

The 47-year-old has been withdrawn while the referees’ body, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, reviews the penalty incident.

Matt Ritchie sinks Burton and puts Newcastle on top after penalty chaos Read more

Stroud disallowed Matt Ritchie’s first-half penalty in the 1-0 win over Burton and awarded the visitors an indirect free-kick rather than ask for the spot-kick to be retaken after Dwight Gayle encroached.

The rules indicate Newcastle should have been allowed a second chance from 12 yards and the PGMOL confirmed Stroud had made an error.

It is not yet clear how long the review will take or when Stroud will next officiate and the PGMOL said the referee had apologised for his mistake.

“In the Championship game between Newcastle United and Burton Albion, referee Keith Stroud awarded Newcastle a penalty in the 29th minute,” a statement read. “As Matt Ritchie took the kick, Dwight Gayle encroached in the penalty area. An indirect free-kick was awarded to Burton but the Laws of the Game state that the penalty kick should have been retaken.

“Unfortunately, the referee has misapplied the law. Keith and his team are understandably upset at the lapse in concentration and apologise for the mistake.”

Ritchie’s second-half goal left Newcastle top of the Championship and 10 points clear of the play-off spots.

Rafael Benítez said of the penalty controversy: “You have seen the incident, you have a lot of experts to analyse, I was talking to the referee. I will not keep talking about that.” The Newcastle manager added: “For me it was an important game, a fantastic goal from Matt Ritchie, a great goal. There was work rate, a lot of positives and unfortunately we talk about the incident.

“The referee and me have been talking. We need to move forward. We can’t change what happened. We got three points. We have to be ready to be stronger for the next one. After the incident we were losing our focus. We won.”