Football: Wolves boss Lopetegui bemoans refereeing in defeat by Newcastle
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Newcastle United's Miguel Almiron scores their second goal past Wolverhampton Wanderers' Jose Sa.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Julen Lopetegui bemoaned his team’s poor luck with referees, after Newcastle United escaped without goalkeeper Nick Pope giving away a penalty and getting a red card during their 2-1 home win at St James’ Park on Sunday.
In the 20th minute, England custodian Pope took a clumsy touch of the ball and Wolves’ Mexican striker Raul Jimenez nipped in to steal the ball and was then bundled over by the goalkeeper.
Referee Andy Madley surprisingly took no action.
“For me, it is a very clear penalty for us,” Lopetegui told Sky Sports.
“We are very unlucky with the referees. We were very unlucky in (the FA Cup match at) Liverpool and today too. It is a pity for us.
“In the second half, we improved a lot. We changed a lot of things and were able to get at them. It was a pity that we had no changes left to make after they scored. We lost against a very good team.”
To add to Wolves’ frustration, Pope made several top-quality saves and Daniel Podence fired a shot against the post.
Former Tottenham Hotspur and England midfielder Jamie Redknapp agreed with the Wolves boss, adding that Pope could have faced a four-game ban had he received his second straight red card this season.
He said on Sky Sports: “He’s incredibly lucky. I cannot believe they’ve not sent Andy Madley to the monitor...
“Nick Pope just takes him out with his right shoulder. He’s 60 yards away, but watch his right shoulder there, he body checks him there, there’s no doubt it’s a foul. Because he’s not tried to play the ball, it would then be a penalty and a red card and a four-game ban for him. That’s how contentious and important this decision is.”
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, unsurprisingly, saw things differently. He said: “I didn’t think it was a penalty. You might say I’m biased but I don’t think it was.
“I think Jimenez was going down as the contact was made.”
His attacker Miguel Almiron came off the bench to move Newcastle up into fifth in the Premier League with the win.
Left out of the starting line-up by Howe, Almiron got his chance in the 68th minute and made his mark 11 minutes later with a superbly taken goal to earn Newcastle a first league win in six games.
Club-record signing Alexander Isak had given Newcastle the lead with a powerful header after 26 minutes.
But the visitors equalised when a slip by Kieran Trippier, as he tried to clear the ball, handed substitute Hwang Hee-chan the easiest of finishes in the 70th minute.
Newcastle hung on to claim the victory that enabled them to overtake Liverpool with 44 points from 25 games – four behind Tottenham with two games in hand.
Wolves remain 13th but only three points above the relegation zone. REUTERS
