Danny Röhl shared the confusion of his under-fire Stoke City counterpart Narcís Pèlac when discussing the performance of referee Sam Allison in Sheffield Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Hillsborough on Saturday.
Pèlac was chastised by the away fans as his team resumed their eight-game losing streak, which has pushed them into the bottom three. Wednesday, on the other hand, was able to maintain their relentless pursuit of the top six.
Referee Allison was at the center of the game’s talking points, having made a series of controversial calls and missing an obvious Stoke penalty when Owls captain Barry Bannan handled the ball in his own box with the score at 1-0. There were few Wednesday complaints over Di’Shon Bernard’s first-half red card, but the awarding of a penalty saved by man of the match James Beadle late in the game caused widespread uncertainty around the stadium.
“The man was sent off, and the second half is different from the first. We should have something; you can see the goal, and we have more numbers than them, as well as superior tactical positions, so you can’t say anything tactically. But we needed to defend and stop the cross, which we didn’t. The first 45 minutes were fine, but then we turned off, which you cannot do.
“Sheffield put themselves in a good position to win, but not by much; Tom Cannon had a big chance, there is a penalty and the referee does not whistle, we have a cross into the box and a Bannan handball but the referee does not whistle.” We are in that situation; I believe the referee had a significant impact on the game, but it is their responsibility.
When asked about his team’s defense, the Stoke manager brought up Allison’s performance again. Wednesday had only four touches in the box in an intriguing contest, two of which reached the back of the net.
“We find ourselves in this moment that everything goes against us,” Pèlac talked about. “This is how we are at the moment. It’s decision after decision. You don’t want to discuss it, but it’s true. Everyone has watched our games. There are poor decisions, but today it is too much to bear. That is the way it goes. I do not want to continue this conversation because it will appear that I am making excuses, and I am not that type of man. We must not switch off. We started well in the first half of the game, but then we lost our cool a little.”
His bewildered countenance was mirrored in Owls manager Röhl’s post-match summary, which concluded a week of uncertainty about the manager’s position at Southampton with a win that alleviated concerns about their home form.
“I didn’t see, and I’m not sure if it was a pen or not (Bannan’s handball),” Röhl told The Star. “I’m not sure who went against us! Finally, we don’t have to talk about it since everything is fine and it’s easy to say, ‘OK, it doesn’t matter’. Sometimes it’s a little odd!”
When asked if he had received any clarification on why the punishment was imposed, Röhl smiled and shook his head.
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