Sunderland and Oxford waiting for FA verdict on tunnel allegations

Sunderland and Oxford United are waiting to discover if the Football Association will take any action after allegations of an incident in the tunnel at their League One fixture.

The Black Cats beat the U’s 3-1 on Good Friday, but Oxford boss Karl Robinson alleged post-match that his goalkeeper Jack Stevens was headbutted during a half-time incident in the tunnel – with tempers flaring again at the full-time whistle following Max Power's late goal.

Robinson himself was shown a red card for abusing referee Trevor Kettle after Aiden McGeady put Sunderland 2-1 ahead.

The Oxford manager threatened to involve the police but it has been said that now won’t be the case and there will be no further action. But the two clubs are still waiting to hear whether there will be any action taken by the FA, who will now be in receipt of the referee’s report.

Speaking on Easter Monday, Robinson said he had yet to discover whether there would be an investigation into the incident – with the Oxford Mail claiming he was ‘not optimistic’ that there would be any further action taken.

He did, however, reveal that Sunderland boss Lee Johnson had spoken with himself, assistant manager Craig Short and stopper Stevens over the weekend.

Robinson said: “I know what happened in the tunnel at half-time and I’m still waiting for that to be dealt with.

"Lee Johnson called me, he spoke to Shorty and Jack.

"Tremendous credit to him, he didn’t have to do that.

"He said a few things to me and that stays private, but I respect everything that he said.

"There’s a misconception that it was Max Power, it wasn’t Max either.

"That’s a bit unfair, but what he did at the end of the game (celebrating his goal in front of the U's bench) also wasn’t acceptable.”

On his own sending-off, Robinson added: “He clarified that the (calling the referee a) 'bleeping disgrace' was the reason I got sent off.

"The FA needs to have a look at their disciplinary system.

"If I was sent off for the right reasons, I should be serving a one-match ban today.”