 |
Fulham (1) 2 Newcastle United (0) 1 Fulham, in the space of 90 wind and rain-swept minutes, were elevated from 18th place in the Premier League to 10th on Sunday night. If such a rise could be considered a thing of fiction, then Joe Kinnear was in keeping with the day’s events when he saw fit to brand official Martin Atkinson as "a Mickey Mouse ref doing nothing".It was a bizarre comment and one sure to attract the attentions of the men at Soho Square. A week earlier, Atkinson received the wrath of Roy Keane, who is now facing an FA charge of misconduct. Kinnear could face similar action after his comments on Atkinson and the general standard of refereeing after his side suffered only the second defeat in six games under their ‘interim’ manager. “If we'd had a proper referee we'd have come away with something,” bemoaned Kinnear, who was referring to an incident in the build up to the winning goal. Kinnear was unhappy that Andrew Johnson, on his way to winning a penalty, seemed – to him at least – to push Claudio Cacapa. It appeared innocuous enough but Kinnear added: “It was a blatant foul prior to the penalty, and he ignores it. It was what happened before, not the penalty itself. Johnson completely pushes Cacapa out of the way, nicks the ball and gets the penalty and we’ve got a Mickey Mouse ref doing nothing.” Kinnear insisted there was nothing to be gained from complaining, adding: “What's the point? We've got Graham Poll and all the other 'eggs' talking. He's made an error that has cost us.” Kinnear recalled other incidents, including Rob Styles’ red card for Habib Beye, against Manchester City, that was later rescinded. “We had one last week with the penalty; we had a player sent off, then not sent off against Manchester City. Cost us again, doesn't it? “They don't seem to care. That's the standard of refereeing in this country. They've always got a smart answer. You can count the ones you want to respect on one hand.” Kinnear’s complaints clouded Fulham’s deserved victory, earned by Johnson who, according to his manager, did not harm his hopes of an England recall. Johnson won the last of his eight caps in September 2007, in the 3-0 win over Israel, and Hodgson said: “Front players who can score goals are always going to be on the tip of a national team manager’s tongue. “It took him a while to get going because he missed pre-season training but I think if Andy really wanted to force his way into the reckoning with Fabio he’s going to have to do what he’s done in the last two games and the games that are coming up as well. “If I was the national team manager I’d maybe be making a little note saying ‘this looks interesting’ and would keep an eye on the situation.” Fulham were more adventurous and went close when Zoltan Gera’s header, from a Bullard corner, was cleared from the goal-line by Jose Enrique, before Fulham deserved took a 24th minute lead. Bullard’s cross was met by Cacapa – in for the injured Steven Taylor – but he directed the ball into the back of fellow defender Fabricio Coloccini. It fell invitingly to Johnson who finished with style. Before the interval Newcastle almost leveled when Damien Duff hit the outside of the right post and the visitors equalised in the 57th minute Shola Ameobi converted. But Fulham regained the lead when Coloccini erred again, bringing down Johnson as he chased a long ball from Dempsey and Murphy converted. Michael Owen, recovered from a groin problem, came on, for Jonas Gutierrez, but wasted the chance to level 12 minutes from the end when his lack of match-fitness let him down, the striker allowing a cross to bounce of his ankle. |
|||||||
| |
