Mark Hughes Feels Robbed

20 September 09 by Bill

After seeing his City side torn to pieces on numerous occasions in today’s Manchester derby, Mark Hughes was far from humble in his verdict of the match.

“We feel really frustrated, robbed if it’s not too strong a word” he told Sky Sports News. “We have done really well to come back into the game and the referee has taken a hand and we’re desperately disappointed because I thought we deserved something out of the game.”

So Hughes blames the referee for the defeat? Before we address the referee issue, let’s talk match stats. United dominated possession 60% to 40%, United had 24 shots to City’s 11, United had better passing and tacking percentages and the game was played predominantly in City’s half. On paper, as in reality, United won the match.

Stats aside, how about the referee? Hughes’ gripe is that Owen scored his goal with 95 minutes and 20 seconds on the clock. Since the referee had signalled just four minutes of time to be added on, how was this possible?

It’s actually pretty simple.

Alan Wiley, the fourth official, had already explained to Hughes that he was adding an additional minute to the game for City’s third goal celebration. That makes five minutes. Officials are also told to add extra time for any substitutions and so Carrick’s introduction in injury time was surely an effort to buy more time. Say, 30 seconds?

There’s five and a half minutes of injury time right there, more than enough for Michael Owen to pop up and snatch a winner.