Poyet fury over penalty call

03 November 2012 06:47

Brighton boss Gus Poyet hit out at the performance of referee Lee Mason and labelled Neil Warnock "a hypocrite" after his side's winless run was extended to seven games in a 2-2 draw against Leeds.

Referee Mason penalised Bruno for a push on Luke Varney which led to El-Hadji Diouf scoring from the spot but Poyet was adamant the Leeds man had taken a dive. He also claimed that midfielder Michael Brown, booked early on for a foul, should have been sent off later in the game.

"The referee was too nice," said the Uruguayan. "He gave a penalty that was not and also kept a player on the pitch who should not have been there, and who then scored the equaliser."

When told Warnock was certain Varney had been shoved, Poyet reacted angrily.

"He would say that. He is a hypocrite," he continued. "He is on the list of hypocrites now. He's funny, Mr Warnock. Very funny. You cannot go one way only when it suits you.

"Then there is Mr Brown who had a fantastic game but he shouldn't have been on the pitch, and everybody knows that. You cannot be nice if you are refereeing. Everybody talks about the refs but they don't look at themselves."

On the issue of the Diouf penalty, Warnock said: "Varney got pushed, he did not dive. Gus is not happy because he wants to win a game of football.

"The referee didn't get much wrong. He's done well. It was a quick game.

"This match shows what the Championship is all about. It was a superb point for us. We were pummelled in the first 20 minutes and it showed that we put so much work into our previous cup tie against Southampton. But all credit to us: we showed a never-say-die attitude and came back strongly in the first half.

"It was a great game to watch, Brighton looked a really strong outfit. We more than played our part and there are no easy matches in the Championship."

Source: PA