Sunderland 3 Newcastle 0: Fuming Steve McClaren blames referee
Manager claims inexperience of official cost 10-man Newcastle after Sunderland win North-east derby
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Your support makes all the difference.An angry Newcastle United manager Steve McClaren claimed yesterday that the inexperience of referee Robert Madley, who controversially sent off the United captain Fabricio Coloccini, cost his side victory in the North-east derby, won by Sunderland for a sixth successive time.
The incident in first-half injury time saw the 30-year-old Madley award a penalty for a debatable Coloccini foul on Steven Fletcher and then dismiss the defender for denying Sunderland an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
The incident changed the course of a game Newcastle had dominated to that point but eventualy lost 3-0. Said McClaren: “I don’t think frustrated is the word. Angry, disappointed and two decisions [including the dismissal of an earlier Newcastle penalty claim] have cost a game in which we were totally dominant. I mean it’s simple – he’s [the referee’s] wrong in my opinion. Referees are part and parcel of the game. You can control your performance but you can’t control the referee. They can affect the result and they have done today, definitely the referee.
“I’ve seen lots of challenges like that in the game [Coloccini’s on Fletcher] inside and outside the box in every game. You know it’s a double whammy, the penalty [and sending off]. And that made it very difficult.”
McClaren was asked if he thought Madley was naive. “Good question that,” he said. “We made sure before the game we didn’t talk about the referee, but for me he got two decisions wrong and we talked about it before – we need an experienced referee for this. I think in both incidents he was too quick to make the decision.”
McClaren was also asked if he thought it had been the denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity when Fletcher fell. “No, no,” he said.
Sam Allardyce, who became the fourth Sunderland manager running to beat Newcastle in his second game in charge after losing the first, said: “We’ve taken full advantage of a piece of good fortune. I did think it was a foul personally. If he hadn’t made contact I think Steven Fletcher would have scored. It is a bit harsh sending him off. But that’s the rules.”
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