Referee had ‘massive impact’ on Burnley loss, says Dyche
Burnley manager Sean Dyche believes referee Rob Jones had a ‘massive impact’ on the result as they lost 1-0 to Leeds.
Patrick Bamford scored the only goal of the match after being awarded a penalty.
He was seemingly fouled by keeper Nick Pope in the box. The English striker then dispatched of the penalty to score his tenth league goal of the campaign.
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But Dyche thinks his team were at the wrong end of Jones’ decisions during the match.
Speaking to BBC Sport, he said: “You can’t say it’s decisive because there’s more to the game than refereeing decisions. But it’s a shame I have to stand here and try and stay calm about it, because the referee has had a massive impact today.
“Nick Pope got clear contact on the ball. VAR has been taking hours to make a decision but they don’t give it a few seconds to even look at it. In my opinion, I have seen it back, two players coming together, in the middle of the pitch it is play on.”
Burnley also saw a goal disallowed as Ben Mee was ruled to have fouled Leeds keeper Illan Meslier in the buildup.
Speaking about the disallowed goal, Dyche said: “Ben Mee clearly has eyes for the ball, he’s not tried to look at their keeper. Their keeper comes through and knees him in the back – if a centre half does that he probably gets booked. Not only is it a penalty, we put it in the goal and he doesn’t give it one second to operate.
“Ironically, it’s been taking hours to make a decision and you get a really important decision and they can’t look at it. The referee played a big part, but we still have to focus on our part.
“The referee will tell you what didn’t happen, I have to remind them I have seen it ten times. It doesn’t seem to make much difference.”