Sean Dyche bemoaned the “massive impact” of refereeing decisions after Leeds inflicted Burnley‘s first defeat in five Premier League games.
Patrick Bamford’s fifth minute penalty proved the difference as the Whites held off a valiant second-half effort from the visitors.
The Clarets mustered nine attempts in the second half, four of which were on target, but found themselves denied by Illan Meslier.
Meslier’s clean sheet was not without controversy, the goalkeeper coming off his line and appearing to fell Ben Mee in the build-up to Ashley Barnes scoring on the turn. Instead of awarding Burnley a penalty, referee Robert Jones instead blew for a foul – only to award it in Leeds’ favour.
Dyche conceded that his side could not blame that incident alone for the 1-0 loss, but also hit out at the decision to award Bamford’s spot-kick at Nick Pope’s expense.
Dyche rues refereeing decisions as Burnley thwarted
“You can’t say it’s decisive because there’s more to the game than refereeing decisions but it’s a shame I have to stand here and try and stay calm about it, because the referee has had a massive impact today,” he told the BBC.
“Nick Pope got clear contact on the ball. VAR has been taking hours to make a decision but they don’t give it a few seconds to even look at it. In my opinion, I have seen it back, two players coming together, in the middle of the pitch it is play on.”
On Burnley’s disallowed goal, which came while Mee had his back to Meslier and was clearly unsighted, Dyche added:
“Ben Mee clearly has eyes for the ball, not tried to look at their keeper – their keeper comes through, knees him in the back, if a centre half does that he probably gets booked.
“Not only is it a penalty, we put it in the goal and he doesn’t give [VAR] one second to operate.
“Ironically, it’s been taking hours to make a decision and you get a really important decision and they can’t look at it. The referee played a big part, but we still have to focus on our part.
“The referee will tell you what didn’t happen, I have to remind them I have seen it 10 times. It doesn’t seem to make much difference.”
Mee echoed his manager’s frustration. “I don’t know how it’s a foul against me,” the 31-year-old said. “If anything, don’t give anything – it’s more of a penalty than a free-kick. Barnsey put in a good finish, but I don’t know what [the referee] was doing.”
“I’m not completely convinced by this!”
Has Illan Meslier got away with one here as Ben Mee is penalised for a foul on the Leeds goalkeeper?
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Burnley sit just two points above the relegation zone ahead of Tuesday’s match against rock bottom Sheffield United.
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