Hull City Football Club News

• Nickname:The Tigers
• Founded:1904
• Manager:Nick Barmby

• Ground:Kingston Communications Stadium
• Capacity:25,404

Officials leave Brown fuming

18 Mar 2009 - 07:47:28

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Livid Hull City manager Phil Brown blamed referee Mike Riley for his side's FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Arsenal.

The Tigers appeared to be heading towards a semi-final clash with Chelsea when Nicky Barmby gave them an early lead but Arsene Wenger's side hit back to win 2-1 thanks to two late goals.

However, Brown insisted after the game that William Gallas' winner should not have been allowed to stand as the French defender was clearly offside.

He fumed after the game: "No excuses for the first goal, it was a mistake by us. No excuses for the second goal, it was definitely a mistake from the officials. That's why we're out of the FA Cup.

"Ask Mr Riley how much that's going to cost Hull City and I don't think he'd understand and I don't think he'd care.

"Their lad was two yards offside when he scored. Nick Barmby was a yard offside when he had a goal disallowed. The flag goes up for Nick but not for their lad.

"The referee bowed to pressure from the fans and to Arsene Wenger when it came to time-wasting. Arsene Wenger got my goalkeeper booked. Do you call that good management?

"Our game-plan was working until our goalkeeper got booked. Our game-plan wasn't to time-waste.

"I was very proud of my players. I've asked them to bring that fighting spirit to the table for the next nine games and, if they do that, we'll be fine, there's no doubt about it."