Bruce rues small club stigma

02 March 2009 12:53
Steve Bruce has again questioned the referee's handling of Wigan Athletic's defeat at Chelsea, admitting it has 'left a bad taste' in his mouth. Wigan were on the brink of a point at Stamford Bridge on Saturday after Olivier Kapo's neat finish had cancelled out John Terry's early volley. However, in injury time, Frank Lampard headed home the winner for Chelsea, with Bruce insistent the midfielder pushed Latics captain Mario Melchiot. Referee Lee Probert allowed the goal, but Bruce is adamant the incident only highlighted the unfavourable treatment smaller clubs receive when they meet the Premier League's big fish. "I really do question the manner in which the game was handled, and we did seem to have the stigma of being a small club playing against one of the big teams," Bruce told the Wigan Evening Post. "What happened left a bad taste in my mouth. "There was a foul by John Mikel Obi in the lead-up to the first goal, and a corner was given when Didier Drogba's shot went wide, even though it shouldn't have been. "The worst one was in the last minute, when there was a blatant push by Frank Lampard on my skipper Mario Melchiot. It put Mario off. He had his shoulder pushed round in mid-air. "The referee was 15 yards away and I thought he would give the right decision, but he didn't. "My players deserve a big pat on the back for their performance though, and I thought we deserved something out of the game. "Had the referee controlled the game better and made the right decisions, we would have come away with a 1-1 draw which we thoroughly deserved. "I feel injustice to my players and I will defend them. They should have been celebrating a 1-1 draw on the bus home."

Source: SKY_Sports