Officials put Sanchez in black mood

LAWRIE SANCHEZ lamented the “usual drama at the Cottage” after claiming Fulham had been denied two precious points by poor refereeing.

Danny Murphy fired Fulham ahead with a 51st-minute penalty, awarded after Ryan Nelsen’s clumsy challenge on Diomansy Kamara, but Sanchez felt his side should have been awarded two more spot-kicks.

The Cottagers boss was also disappointed referee Mike Dean failed to spot Jason Roberts was offside in the build-up to Blackburn’s first equaliser through Brett Emerton.

Sanchez claims his side have frequently been on the wrong end of the whistle this season and told referees chief Keith Hackett to expect another letter of complaint.

“The penalty was a bang-to-rights penalty — Ryan Nelsen whacked him up in the air, what more do you need to do to get a penalty?” he said.

“We could have had two more through handballs and one of their goals was offside. It’s the usual drama at the Cottage.

“I hear specialists say they don’t know the offside rule. Well the offside rule is quite simple if they read it. For Kamara’s goal he was not offside. He was onside when the ball was crossed. I don’t know what people don’t understand about that.

“We all know what the rules are. When you are stood three yards offside, when you head the ball on to set up a goal, like they did, then it’s not a goal.”

Blackburn boss Mark Hughes disagreed with Sanchez, calling for the offside rule to be simplified. Hughes was infuriated by Fulham’s second goal, scored by Kamara who he insists was offside when Simon Davies played the decisive pass.

“For the penalty itself I never thought Kamara was in charge of the ball,” he said. “I thought the two players clashed without the ball. But it’s the referee’s interpretation of that and he gave it very quickly.

“At that point you do feel aggrieved. For the second goal Kamara was in an offside position.

“In days gone by that was a stonewall offside. The situation now is, is it first phase or second phase? Is he active? It’s difficult for the officials. I would like to see the law simplified. It was simpler when I played.”

FULHAM (4-4-2): Niemi 6, Baird 6, Stefanovic 6, Hughes 6, Konchesky 6, Davies 7, Davis 6, Murphy 7 (Healy 83, 5), Bouazza 6 (Kuqi 67, 6), Kamara 7 (Ki-Hyeon 83, 5), Dempsey 6.

Subs Not Used: Warner, Bocanegra.

BLACKBURN (4-5-1): Friedel 6, Ooijer 6, Nelsen 5, Samba 6, Warnock 8, Bentley 6, Mokoena 6 (Reid 89, 5), Kerimoglu 5, Emerton 7, Pedersen 6, McCarthy 5 (Roberts 8, 6).

Subs Not Used: Brown, Savage, Khizanishvili.

REFEREE: Mike Dean (Wirral) 5: Stoked the wrath of Lawrie Sanchez, although his assistants also made some curious decisions.

MATCH RATING: *** Wretched first half, but picked up markedly after the break.