Grant pleads for 'common sense'

Avram Grant feels ref Steve Bennett should have shown "common sense" instead of sending off Anthony Vanden Borre in the draw with Blackburn. The south coast strugglers were given a temporary stay of execution from Premier League relegation after Hull failed to win at Stoke.But Grant, who went into the Rovers game without 13 first-team regulars and a substitutes' bench full of youth-team players, was left fuming after Vanden Borre received a second booking for deliberate handball.The Belgian right-back was yellow-carded shortly before the break for a foul on Blackburn's Steven Nzonzi.Grant had his doubts about this booking, but he was furious when Bennett dismissed Vanden Borre for blatantly handling a ball down the right touchline on the hour.The decision rules him out of the club's FA Cup semi-final with Tottenham at Wembley on Sunday, April 11 and worsened Grant's already painful selection headache for Pompey's biggest game of the season.The Israeli said: "I respect Steve Bennett very much - he is one of the best referees. But we have needed to see more common sense (from referees) this year."In January, February and March we suffered with so many bad decisions against us - penalties that we saw on the television afterwards were not penalties and players not being sent off who should have been."It was one of those situations where if he hadn't given the red card, I don't think anyone would have blamed him."Grant added: "I wouldn't say it wasn't the right decision, I won't say it was the wrong decision."It was just down to common sense and there are some decisions where if you don't take them, no-one will blame you."I don't think the first one was even a yellow card because the player gave the ball away."But I'm not speaking about right and wrong - I'm speaking about common sense."Grant will also be without Jamie O'Hara next weekend, as the Tottenham loanee has been blocked from playing by his parent club.While Pompey fans will be praying for good news on the injury front this week, Grant is not hopeful of having any more than a couple of his missing regulars fit to return.He said: "I don't have any good news for the moment because nobody has even started to train again out of the injured players."I think maybe one, two or maybe three will be available, but they will be coming back having not trained normally for a while."But we need them now and if any of them could perform at 60 or 70 percent, it would be better than nothing."Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce was dejected to see his side denied a third straight Premier League win, despite enjoying the lion's share of the chances.David Dunn and Christopher Samba hit the Pompey post in the first half, while Rovers huffed and puffed but created very few clear-cut opportunities in the second.Allardyce admits his side's failure to find the finishing touch has hurt them this season.He said: "It has been very much the order of the season for us."We've done this so many times. We've created so many chances to win a game away from home and failed to do it."It's the reason why we've only won two away games in the Premier League this year."It's not the performances. The final touch or the final quality in front of goal has been lacking away from home."That's why we only have two victories on the road instead of four or five."

Source: Team_Talk