Ref sorry for penalty blunder

PORTSMOUTH manager Harry Redknapp revealed that referee Chris Foy apologised to him for awarding the dubious penalty which sent his team crashing to a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.

But rather than criticise the officials, Redknapp insisted football should embrace new technology to ensure such mistakes do not happen.

Tottenham’s Ivory Coast midfielder Didier Zokora fell inside the penalty area, apparently without being touched by Portsmouth’s Pedro Mendes, in the 34th minute at White Hart Lane.

Redknapp insists Zokora “dived”, but Spurs coach Martin Jol claimed his player was simply “off-balance”.

Foy awarded a penalty from which Jermain Defoe scored Tottenham’s second goal, but Redknapp said: “The referee is embarrassed. He came to me at half-time and said, ‘Harry, I’m sorry, I’ve made a big mistake’. But what can I do about it now?

Redknapp added: “The boy has dived and I saw that on the screen 10 seconds before the penalty was taken. But if the fourth official, who is wired up the referee, had a monitor at the side of the pitch, he could tell him that he wasn’t touched.

“The ref has gone home knowing people will be saying what a giant ricket he has made, but he didn’t do it on purpose. It was just a mistake. The referees need help out there and I don’t know why we don’t do something about it. It is simple. A player dives and it has cost us dearly. We certainly deserved something from the game.”

Redknapp recalled the August 23 incident when Mendes was caught by a forearm challenge from Manchester City’s Ben Thatcher who was booked for the offence — but later suspended for eight matches. He said: “It is no different to that incident. The fourth official with a monitor could have told the ref what really happened.

“I don’t know if people dive more in football now. It has always happened but that’s no consolation when you have lost to something like that. We started sloppily and went a goal down in 40-odd seconds but Spurs were nervous after a few dicky results and we were not too worried.

“But the second goal made things very hard although we would have had a point but for Robinson’s great save at the end.”

Jol tried to defend Zokora, but admitted: “It is clear he wasn’t touched.”

Jol added: “He (Zokora) said he was off-balance and assured me he didn’t dive. I think he was off-balance. But I can understand why Harry is upset because I have never seen an incident quite like this in this country.”

Zokora, though, celebrated the award of a penalty when Foy pointed to the spot and Jol said: “That was because we were under pressure for results. They wanted to win and so, of course, they were happy to have a penalty.”

Jol added: “I’ve been upset by penalties in the last two years. You win some — you lose them. But I think we deserved to win on the number of chances we created.”

* Tottenham have announced the signing of Sweden U17 goalkeeper Oscar Jansson. The Karlsund HFK goalkeeper will join Spurs in January.

Opta Fact: Jermain Defoe has scored four goals in six Premiership appearances against Pompey.

Spurs ended a run of 434 minutes since scoring a Premiership goal by netting inside the first minute.

TOTTENHAM: Robinson, Chimbonda (Huddlestone 45), Dawson (Davenport 81), King, Assou-Ekotto, Jenas, Murphy, Zokora, Ghaly, Berbatov (Keane 73), Defoe.

PORTSMOUTH: James, Johnson, Primus, Campbell, Stefanovic (Taylor 64), O’Neil, Davis (Mwaruwari 64), Pedro Mendes, Kranjcar, Kanu (Cole 72), LuaLua.

Referee: C Foy (Merseyside).

* Tottenham have announced the signing of Sweden U17 goalkeeper Oscar Jansson. The Karlsund HFK goalkeeper will move to White Hart Lane in January.