Portsmouth Football Club

• Nickname:Pompey
• Founded:1898
• Manager:Guy Whittingham

• Ground:Fratton Park
• Capacity:19179

Harry hits out at referee

24 Oct 2008 - 08:34:19

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Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp had a long list of reasons to be annoyed after watching his side lose 3-0 to Braga in the UEFA Cup.

Poor refereeing, South American divers and a lengthening injury list all upset Redknapp as Pompey's hopes of progressing past the group stage of the UEFA Cup took serious knock.

He blasted: "Right from the start I thought he (referee Darko Ceferin) didn't have a clue. I bet he's had loads of big games in Slovenia.

"Every decision he gave against us seemed to bring a booking but they (Braga) were diving all over the place, rolling around looking for free-kicks.

"It wasn't like the first game in Portugal (against Guimaraes). The referee there, a Turk, was very good.

"But this guy didn't give us anything. We also had a perfectly good goal disallowed. I've seen it again and the goalkeeper wasn't touched. At 2-1 it could have made all the difference.

"Braga played well and won the game but I thought it was poor the way they went about it. It doesn't happen in our game in England and I hope it never will.

"Our passing, especially the final ball in was poor and we missed some injured players but it's not all over yet.

"We've still got two big home games in the group - one against AC Milan - and it's still all to play for."