Oldham Athletic players were fuming with referee Isaac Searle when he blew his half-time whistle too early against Salford City.Salford were 2-1 up in their 4-1 League Two victory at Boundary Park when four minutes of time were added onto the end of the first half.There were almost two minutes still to play when Searle blew for the breakSky Sports Football YouTubeA little over two of those minutes were played when Searle blew for the interval, sparking bemusement from fans inside the ground.Oldham star Keenan Appiah-Forson quickly realised the mistake and walked to the official whilst holding up four fingers.Meanwhile, his teammate Jamie Robson was visibly livid with Searle, who had repeatedly shouted ‘Relax!’Mike Fondop also joined in with the protests as the referee assessed what had happened.Searle then realised that he did in fact blow his whistle too early, and called the players back onto the pitch for the remaining minutes.Club staff were already on the pitch and preparing for the half-time entertainment, but had to temporarily return to the side.Has a referee blown too early before?The bizarre scenes drew parallels with Tunisia v Mali the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.Referee Janny Sikazwe called time on the match before 90 minutes were played on two occasions.As they chased a late equaliser in what was ultimately a 1-0 defeat, Tunisia players and staff furiously protested the decision.They then refused to play on when Mali returned around 40 minutes later for the remaining moments, and so the match finally ended.Oldham defender Robson was angry at the official, whilst Appiah-Forson made it clear how long was left to playSky Sports Football YouTubeSearle was quick to realise his timing error and brought the players back on for the rest of stoppage timeSky Sports Football YouTubeSpeaking after the match, Salford boss Peter Cklamovski addressed the wild scenes in Oldham.“There was a little bit of chaos in the last 10 minutes of the first half when the referee lost his way, but half-time came at a good time to regroup,” he said.“And the response from the players was good and set the game up for us to win in the second half.”Oldham sit 20th in the table whilst Salford, co-owned by Manchester United legends David Beckham and Gary Neville, are seventh.Salford lost all of their opening three league fixtures, but have now won three of their last four in an unbeaten run.They are in contention for promotion to League One this season.