Burnley Football Club News

• Nickname:Clarets
• Founded:1882
• Manager:Owen Coyle

• Ground:Turf Moor
• Capacity:22,546

Laws left with bitter penalty taste

29 Mar 2010 - 07:52:53

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Furious manager Brian Laws claimed Burnley were the victims of a penalty 'con' after losing Sunday's derby 1-0 to a controversial Blackburn Rovers spot-kick.

David Dunn converted the 20th minute penalty which had been awarded after Mike Dean adjudged that goalkeeper Brian Jensen had clipped the legs of Rovers striker Martin Olsson.

At the other end of the pitch, Burnley's furious penalty claims were waved away after Wade Elliott was brought down right on the edge of the box by Christopher Samba.

Meanwhile, the nearest the 19th-placed Clarets came to an equaliser came from a quickly-taken Graham Alexander free-kick from which Leon Cort volleyed wide.

"When you look at it in the cool light of day it's clear it's not even a penalty," said Laws.

"Olsson took a dive, he conned the referee. The referee's not in a great position and he's given the penalty which was very harsh and left us with a mountain to climb.

"But we didn't get a lot of joy from any of the decisions and I was disappointed with that. I thought it might even itself out.

"If the referee thought it was a penalty by the goalkeeper then you either send him off or book him.

"I'm not blaming the player - he's done everything possible to try and get a goal against us through a penalty or his own work - but I'm disappointed because we want to see honesty and we want to see the referee get the correct decisions."