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The Guardian
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Sunderland (1) 2 Fulham (2) 2
Martin O'Neill pleaded with referees to be consistent over handball decisions after his side fought back to deny Fulham victory. Mark Halsey awarded two spot-kicks in the 2-2 draw, but waved away appeals for two more after incidents involving Fulham's Emmanuel Frimpong and Philippe Senderos.
A frustrated O'Neill said: "It looked a pretty clear-cut penalty from Senderos handling the ball. I suppose it sounds like a bit of a moan and a bit of a rant, but last week [in the 2-1 defeat by West Brom] there were two penalty incidents and, to me, both were penalties given the directives we have been given by the referees this season. One was given against us and the other one wasn't. The referee chose to miss it, and today again.
"While 20 years ago, maybe, the game would have not had a penalty at all, the fact is this is not 20 years ago, it's now, and these are the directives we have been given. I keep mentioning that point because it was the referees who mentioned it, so you can't just turn around and give it and then choose to ignore it when you want."
The game revolved on a series of debatable penalty decisions, with Halsey enduring a testing afternoon on Wearside. He pointed to the spot for the first time after 16 minutes, when Ashkan Dejagah went down under Craig Gardner's challenge, and Dimitar Berbatov converted in imperious fashion.
Fulham extended their lead 10 minutes before the break, when full-back Sascha Riether tapped home after the Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet parried Dejagah's shot, but the home side grabbed a lifeline within two minutes.
The referee ruled that Senderos had tugged Danny Graham's shirt and Gardner smashed home the resulting penalty, setting the stage for Stéphane Sessègnon to claim a point, 20 minutes from time, with the Black Cats turning in a vastly improved second-half display.
Adam Johnson was convinced his side should have been awarded a second spot-kick when Frimpong appeared to block his shot with an arm, and O'Neill was adamant Halsey should have pointed to the spot when the ball bounced up against Senderos's hand seven minutes from time.
O'Neill said: "It was certainly an incident-packed game. We conceded a penalty and then the second goal was, from our own viewpoint, very poor. It was our corner kick and they scored from it.
"But we fought back and I thought we could and should have won the game."
Martin Jol was disappointed his side could not hang on to their lead. The Fulham manager said: "On the one hand, it's a good point and, on the other hand, three points would have meant we had done the business, but we didn't."
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