Manchester City Football Club News

• Nickname:Sky Blues
• Founded:1887
• Manager:Roberto Mancini

• Ground:City of Manchester Stadium
• Capacity:48,000

Hughes hits out at penalty

29 Sep 2008 - 07:41:12

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Manchester City manager Mark Hughes accused referee Steve Bennett of being deceived by a 'theatrical dive' during his side's 2-1 defeat at Wigan Athletic on Sunday.

Hughes was angry after Bennett awarded the home side a 34th minute spot-kick after Wilson Palacios crashed to the floor when challenged by Javier Garrido as he chased Emile Heskey's ball into the box.

The scores were level at 1-1 at the time, but Amr Zaki converted the penalty to inflict a third defeat of the new Premier League season on the big-spending Citizens.

"We are disappointed because we feel the referee has played an outcome in the result of the game," claimed Hughes.

"There were a number of key decisions which we felt he got incorrectly and, once Wigan got in front, they were difficult to break down.

"The two goals we conceded today were an outstanding strike from their player for the first one and penalty which we felt was really harsh.

"Their player had looked to gain an advantage and dived theatrically.

"I thought initially maybe the referee had given it because he was in a poor position but he wasn't so he feels he was right to give that decision."