Clarke: Penalty decision could have gone against us
Titus Bramble and Craig Gardner try to halt West Brom sub Peter Odemwingie
STEVE Clarke understood Sunderland’s frustration at the Black Cats not getting a penalty just minutes after West Brom had been awarded a spot-kick for a similar incident.
But he pointed out that Craig Gardner’s error in the 34th minute was far more obvious than Gareth McAuley’s 10 minutes later.
Both men were guilty of handball in their own area, but only the Sunderland man was punished.
Clarke observed: “What I would say is that when the cross came into the Sunderland box there was clear daylight between Gardner’s body and his arm – it was a simple decision for the referee to make.
“When it struck McAuley, his arms were down by his sides, so it’s harder for the referee to judge.
“If I can be biased, I would say that at least McAuley’s arms were down by his side, so you can make the argument of what else is he supposed to do?
“He can’t saw his arms off!
“But there’s no doubt that the decision could easily have gone against us.”
Consecutive victories over Liverpool and this weekend Sunderland have revived Albion’s season and got them to the accepted Premier League safety mark.
Clarke said: “It’s a relief to get to 40 points, if I’m honest.
“I’ll admit I’m also a little disappointed we didn’t reach it a little earlier after how well we did in the first half of the season.
“But I’m pleased with the 40-point mark and now we got for the 50-point target.”
Twitter @sunechograeme
* Don’t miss the Football Echo - out today - the best buy of the weekend, with 44 packed pages covering SAFC in depth, plus much more.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Boss Di Canio wants six new men for Sunderland
- Bus crashes into Sunderland JobCentre
- Pool pervert used shoe mirror to spy on woman changing in Sunderland Aquatic Centre
- Survival assured, Sunderland boss can plan future
- ‘You can’t live a lie and spend your life feeling sad’ – transgender modelling competition finalist tells all
- DOBSON MARKS START OF HEALTH C
- Di Canio: Sunderland players will get a shorter summer break if they don’t perform well at Tottenham
- Last post is 6.30pm (but get here by 5.30pm)
- TV chef Martin Blunos takes over the kitchen at Seaham Hall
- ‘You can’t live a lie and spend your life feeling sad’ – transgender modelling competition finalist tells all
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sunderland
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North
