'The referee knows he made a mistake that cost Sunderland,' says Lynden Gooch

The Sunderland players were unhappy with Jeremy Simpson after the Blackpool draw and understandably so.

Lynden Gooch criticised referee Jeremy Simpson after he failed to allow what could have been a key advantage in Sunderland’s 0-0 draw with Blackpool.

Elliot Embleton had the ball in the Seasiders’ net in the second half but Simpson had already stopped play to award a free-kick to Sunderland for a foul on Patrick Roberts.

It denied the Black Cats a great position and nothing came of the resulting free-kick, and Gooch admitted it was a tough decision for the players to swallow.

“Obviously we’re frustrated and I think first half was probably some of our best football like at Reading I’d say.

“We are disappointed, we created chances to win the game and I think in that second half the referee knows he made a mistake.

“Obviously it’s really frustrating when the officials don’t get things right but I think we did enough in the game to win it.”

Despite dominating the first half, Sunderland were forced into some brave defending to protect their clean sheet after the break.

Blackpool adjusted their tactics to press higher up the pitch rather than get men behind the ball and Gooch, along with the rest of the defence, had to stand up to a lot of balls coming into the box.

“I think they adjusted in the second half and went a bit more aggressive on us playing out so it was a bit more difficult,” Gooch said.

“They played three centre-forwards effectively so we knew it was going to be a tough battle, but we defended really well again and we kept another clean sheet which is really positive.”

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