Referee Bobby Madden won’t face any action following the Blues’ controversial fog-bound game at Oxford almost a fortnight ago.
Blues boss Kieran McKenna and his U’s counterpart Karl Robinson called Madden over to the touchline in the 74th minute as players were struggling to see the ball in the thick fog.
After the game, McKenna said that Madden, in his first year as an EFL official after more tha 20 years working in Scotland and a decade as a FIFA referee, had told them that once the game had passed the 75-minute mark - which it would have done by the time he abandoned it - the result would remain as it stood, 1-1, rather than the match being restaged.
"Myself and Karl were both happy to play the game another day because it was going to be a lottery playing it in those last 20 minutes,” McKenna said.
"At that stage the referee said that because the 75-minute mark had passed the result would have to stand, there would have to be a draw and there would be no replay.”
Robinson, whose side went on to win 2-1, added: "If we're being totally honest the game probably should have been called off but had it been we would have had a point.
"Once they realised that if the game was called off the result would stand and that might then not be good enough for them to get in the top two, they wanted to carry on. From my point of view it was maybe the wrong decision that ended up being the right decision.”
However, it subsequently emerged that the 75-minute rule doesn’t exist in EFL competition or more widely.
But, according to the EADT, the referees’ body, the PGMOL, has now investigated the matter and found that Madden did nothing wrong and that neither he nor any member of his team of officials made the 75-minute claim to the managers.
There were suggestions last week that Madden had been demoted to fourth official’s duties as a result of the Town match, however, there were comparatively few EFL fixtures last weekend due to the FA Cup with a number of regular referees also on touchline duty. The Carlisle-based official is down to referee the Northampton-Walsall match in League Two on Saturday.
Town are unhappy regarding the outcome but say they won’t be commenting on the matter publicly.