BRUCE REF FURY
‘Rookie played to the crowd!’
STEVE BRUCE settled in his chair and took off, with referee Tim Robinson firmly in his sights.
‘ In years and years I don’t think I’ve ever come out and really criticised a referee,’ Bruce said. This was a different side to him.
The Newcastle manager was shaking and not just as a result of the weather. Anger coursed through him at a man who had made his Premier League debut.
This was an ugly spectacle reliant on a mistake to enliven proceedings and while Martin Dubravka looked to t ake t hat dubious honour, caught underneath Ashley Westwood’s swirling corner to allow Chris Wood to head the winner, Bruce was adamant the real culprit was Robinson.
‘ We f eel aggrieved t hat t he referee has awarded them a corner after initially giving a goal kick,’ Bruce said. ‘He’s heard something in his ear from someone 90 yards away and given a corner.’
There is more, with Newcastle sure that Wood fouled Federico Fernandez from the set-piece. No mention of Dubravka’s floundering that contributed to Burnle y winning the torturous game on 58 minutes. Robinson and Bruce have previous f r om earli er in t he season.
‘I’ve seen it again: a clear, blatant foul,’ Bruce added. ‘We knew the referee was making his debut and you hope it doesn’t hang on a refereeing decision. We’re at the elite level and for me the referee looked short. I never really want to criticise.
‘That’s twice he’s refereed us and he missed a red card against Leicester in the cup. Matt Ritchie still hasn’t recovered from the (Hamza Choudhury) tackle.
‘He gave foul after foul after foul. More experienced referees would have let things go. There were far too many mistakes and for me he was not ready to referee a Premier League game. He reacted to the crowd.’
And that was that, Burnley having found a way out of their particular hole of three consecutive bruising defeats. Newcastle were too unadventurous, although Bruce can point to a lengthy injury list and the absence of his joker in the pack Allan Saint-Maximin.
These are crucial points for Sean Dyche. Just a shame, really, that it was such a poor afternoon.
Free-kicks won in midfield were applauded like shots on target. Corners were celebrated like goals. At one point Ashley Barnes had possession on halfway and booted the ball out for a Newcastle goalkick. To label this bleak does not begin to do the occasion, showered by sleet and hail, justice.
Andy Carroll, cruelly starved of service on his debut as captain, made just eight first-half touches. Four of those were headers, one the only real chance of note when he skewed Isaac Hayden’s wicked cross wide.
Dwight Gayle, a substitute, almost steered home a late equaliser but, ultimately, Newcastle left without having registered a shot on target.
Burnley felt let down by Robinson as well, Dyche insistent that Carroll should have seen red for elbowing Ben Mee. Turf Moor regularly howled at the rookie referee, while VAR also ruled that Paul Dummett’s handling of Dwight McNeil’s cross was not worthy of a Burnley penalty.
Robinson’s penchant for blowing so often disrupted the flow of a match that needed no help in that regard. Burnley did operate at a higher tempo after the break — in patches. Following Wood’s goal, his seventh of the season, Jack Cork should have doubled the lead.
Picking the pocket of off-colour Sean Longstaff, Cork marched into the box but could only find Dubravka’s legs.
‘ It wasn’t a game of amazing chances,’ Dyche said, rather understating the point. ‘All of a sudden the season looks totally different. That is 21 points now. It was an important game and I liked the calmness of my players.’