Brighton manager Chris Hughton was critical of two influential officiating decisions in his side's 2-1 defeat away to Cardiff City this weekend.
In the first half, midfielder Dale Stephens was sent off for a sliding challenge on Cardiff's Greg Cunningham, before Sol Bamba scored a 90th-minute winner, though he appeared to come from an offside position before burying his shot.
Speaking to BBC Sport after the game, Hughton said:
"The hardest thing to take is you are reliant on good decisions by officials and the last goal was shown to be offside. It makes it even harder."
Regarding Dale Stephens' red card, Hughton said:
"The studs weren't not up, and I'm not sure he catches the opponent. There are so many grey areas. I'm quite sure that this ref on another occasions wouldn't have given it.
"But the offside is the decision I'm more annoyed with."
“I don’t think it looked like Sol Bamba was offside – he was offside,” Hughton said (via the Guardian). “Referees have difficult decisions to make, especially with Cardiff’s style of play, but what you want them to do is make the big decisions correctly.”
Even though these two decisions were hugely pivotal moments in the match, Cardiff played well enough to secure only a second win in nine games.
“We’ve seen it on numerous occasions and he’s in an offside position. That’s the frustration and anger. For me it’s a comfortable and easy decision to make.”#BHAFC
— Brighton & Hove Albion ⚽️ (@OfficialBHAFC) November 10, 2018
Read ➡️ https://t.co/sWNNWPhYkQ pic.twitter.com/XQaOnI7vSx
From a Brighton perspective, they will be looking to bounce back from successive defeats in their next fixture which sees them host Everton on 24 November after the upcoming international break.
Source: 90min
