Phil Parkinson was ‘gobsmacked’ after Sunderland were denied a late penalty as they crashed out of the Carabao Cup at Oxford United.
The Black Cats had fallen behind to Rob Hall’s first-half strike but had fought back to level 12 minutes from time through Marc McNulty.
And when Luke O’Nien was sent sprawling inside the penalty area by Sam Long a couple of minutes from the end, it looked like Sunderland would have the chance to win the game from the spot.
But referee Steve Martin waved away their appeals, just as he had in the first half when Joel Lynch had been felled by goalkeeper Simon Eastwood.
And that meant the game finished level and went to a penalty shootout, with Will Grigg and McNulty failing to convert as Oxford won 4-2 to book their place in the quarter-finals.
“The officials have got to have a long, hard, look at themselves after that,” said a furious Parkinson.
“There was a clear penalty in the first half when Lynchy was poleaxed by their keeper.
“Then in the second half, Luke was just about to pull the trigger and put the ball in the back of the net - there’s not a great deal of contact, but it’s enough to bring him down and the referee was only 10 yards away.
“I’m absolutely gobsmacked that we didn’t get a penalty for that.
“Obviously, I have had the benefit of seeing it back again but for me there is absolutely no reason at all for the referee not to give a penalty for that.
“He [O’Nien] was in a great position, and everyone in the ground knew it was a penalty apart from one person.”
