West Ham Reaction: Bruce bemused by referee

Here is the reaction of the two managers.

Steve Bruce

We huffed and puffed all game and I couldn't criticise the effort our lads have put in. I think we actually found it more difficult playing against ten men rather than against eleven, and if we had played until midnight we still probably wouldn't have scored.

I've got no complaints about the result, West Ham were the better team and their goal deserved to win any match.

But the game was ruined as a spectacle with the first sending off. Carlton Cole, for me, shouldn't have been gone and the referee should have used some common sense.

At 11 v 11 it had the makings of a decent game but then it was ruined with that decision.

I actually thought Lucas Neill should have been sent off, but because Mr Attwell has put himself under pressure in the first-half, when the big decision comes around, he doesn't make it.

After the first red card there was an undercurrent of ill feeling for the rest of the game, Scott Parker for example, after he was given a yellow card, was rampaging round the pitch and inciting challenges.

As for Lee Cattermole, I've got no complaints over his sending-off, it was a stupid challenge and a silly thing to do.

He had certainly been incensed by the earlier goings-on but he shouldn't have reacted like that."

Gianfranco Zola

We have to understand that the referee is there, he's a human being and sometimes they can make mistakes.

He needs our support for the time and it happens that you might have a bad day, you might make a decision that's not accepted by the opposition but they are there to do a job and we need to make sure that they are comfortable with the job they do.

I think it was too much. I thought neither the first or second [Cole] challenges were bad tackles at all. Unfortunately the referee saw them that way.

The red cards? For Cattermole I think it was a bad tackle - as was the one by Lucas Neill on Cattermole again. All I can say having spoken to him [Lucas] is that it seems he wanted to go for the ball. he just touched the ball but as he was sliding he caught the man. It was a bad tackle anyway.

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