Journalist Josh Bunting has slammed the officiating in Sunderland’s most recent game after the club were not awarded a penalty.
In their most recent Championship outing, the Black Cats travelled away from home in what could have been a pretty tough fixture, but they still managed to pick up all three points.
Indeed, facing Birmingham City, goals from loanees Ellis Simms and Amad Diallo were enough to see Tony Mowbray’s side take a two-goal lead and cling on for a win after Lukas Jutkiewicz pulled one back for the Blues.
Despite the win, Bunting seemed to take issue with referee Andy Madley and the way he officiated the game.
The journalist made his feelings clear on Twitter, writing: “Officiating in this league beyond a joke as well, stonewall penalty not given, another one that we haven’t got this season when we should have. It’s beyond embarrassing, every single week, decisions go against us when they are just so clear-cut.”
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TIF Thoughts on Sunderland and the game…
On top of the penalty call which Bunting has dubbed ‘stonewall’ – when referee Madley failed to produce a yellow card for Krystian Bielik after the Birmingham player put in a ‘late challenge’ on Alex Pritchard – the Sunderland midfielder ‘couldn’t believe a card wasn’t shown’ (via Sunderland Echo).
Evidently, some players were also bemused at times by the officiating. Meanwhile, the journalist also was baffled by the seven minutes of injury time added on at the end of the game that made for a nervy finish, stating that it was ‘beyond a joke’.
Despite all this apparent drama, however, Mowbray’s men did enough to hang on to the win and pick up a great three points on the road.