Hughes disappointed by Rovers goal

19 September 2010 10:00
Mark Hughes felt a more experienced referee than Anthony Taylor was needed in Fulham's 1-1 draw at Blackburn on Saturday.[LNB] The Cheshire official missed an obvious shove by El Hadji Diouf on goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer which allowed Chris Samba to head into an empty net.[LNB]Rovers boss Sam Allardyce was also critical of Taylor - claiming Schwarzer should not even have still been on the pitch because of a "blatant" handball outside the box.[LNB]Hughes said: "It was a foul for their goal so we are disappointed and our performance in the second half merited a win.[LNB]"I don't think the referee has had a game like this before, it's only his second game in the Premier League.[LNB]"I just feel there's a lot going on off the ball when you play the likes of Blackburn and you need an experienced referee to recognise that and understand what's going on.[LNB]"Maybe that's why he missed the challenge on Mark.[LNB]"I was disappointed with the award of the goal, there were two other incidents prior to that so for the referee to allow the play to continue was disappointing."[LNB]Clint Dempsey headed home expertly as Fulham brushed off a poor first half display to finish on top and maintain their unbeaten start to the season.[LNB]Hughes added: "In the first half we allowed ourselves to get a little bit penned in and didn't really play our own game.[LNB]"Blackburn will always put the ball into the box and make it difficult for you.[LNB]"I wanted us to get the ball down, move it quickly and play our game rather than Blackburn's, and we did so and scored a great equaliser.[LNB]"It was another away point and we are still unbeaten so we are pleased."[LNB]Allardyce admitted that Diouf had committed a foul but claimed that Schwarzer should have been sent off earlier for handling Morten Gamst Pedersen's chip outside the area.[LNB]"We have got away with that perhaps but we were exposing Mark Schwarzer's weaknesses and he handled outside the box blatantly.[LNB]"The referee's in a fantastic position to see and he should be sending him off and he doesn't.[LNB]"We've exposed one of their weaknesses in that the keeper's not great on balls into the box."[LNB]Allardyce insisted that Rovers should also have been awarded two penalties for challenges on both Dioufs - El Hadji and Mame Biram.[LNB]He added: "On 67 minutes Kelly headbutts Diouf and 999 times out of 1,000 if it's outside the box he blows up for a free-kick and a dangerous challenge and probably books him.[LNB]"We had control of the game and it was disappointing in the second half we got edgy, lost our rhythm and let Fulham back into it.[LNB]"Our quality wasn't good enough and I'm quite satisfied on the basis that we got a draw when most of the time this year I have been disappointed in the result and not the performance."

Source: Team_Talk