KENNY DALGLISH has backed referee’s assistant Sian Massey as the sexism row involving Sky Sports duo Richard Keys and Andy Gray rumbled on.

Both Keys and former Everton striker Gray were stood down from duty for last night’s televised match between Bolton Wanderers and Chelsea after making comments off-air about Premier League official Massey.

The Sky pair commented on 25-year-old Massey’s appointment for Liverpool’s trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, when they believed their microphones were switched off.

They concurred that female officials “don’t know the offside rule”, with Keys adding: “I can guarantee you there’ll be a big one today. (Liverpool manager) Kenny (Dalglish) will go potty.”

Massey was subsequently involved in a major offside call when replays confirmed she was right not to flag Raul Meireles before the Portuguese set up Fernando Torres for Liverpool’s opening goal.

“I never even knew it was a woman,” admitted the Liverpool manager. “In the second half I was watching it and I said to Steve Clarke, ‘Steve that’s a woman over there!’

“I don’t have a problem with the gender of people officiating at a football match. They’ve got to know the laws of the game, haven’t they?

“I don’t know what Sky’s attitude is towards women, but certainly for me if you’re good at your job I don’t think your gender should be a restraint.

“The most important thing is how they see and interpret the laws of the game. The fact that we never knew tells you something. And by the way, I never noticed if it was a guy on the other line either.

“It doesn’t matter what your gender is, you’re not going to get everything right. But fortunately for her this time, because she’s been put under the microscope, they can look back at that (the correct call for the first goal) and justify that she got that one right.

“That will certainly give her a lot of confidence going into her next game.”

Dalglish, whose daughter Kelly Cates is a former employee of Sky, also poked fun at the Sky Sports reporter at yesterday’s media conference ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League visit of Fulham. At the start of the briefing, the Liverpool manager asked the reporter “is it okay for a lady (journalist) to be here – it doesn’t affect Sky?” before ending the television interview by stating “is that your last question? So you’re not even asking me about lady officials? And you want me to answer your questions?”