Newcastle United were very lucky to nab themselves a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth this weekend, but some Toon fans believe they could have taken all three points had it not been for referee Mike Dean.
Several of Dean’s decisions during the match upset the Toon faithful, some of which had huge effects on the final result.
In the first half, the referee dismissed a foul on DeAndre Yedlin in the penalty area, despite the defender having been caught late by Charlie Daniels.
However Dean didn’t hesitate to award Bournemouth a penalty in the second half, for a much softer challenge.
Federico Fernandez and Nathan Ake had both went up to battle for an aerial ball, Fernandez wrapping his arms around The Cherries defender.
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Dean deemed it worthy of a penalty, which infuriated a lot of Toon supporters.
Newcastle had been 1-0 up thanks to a delightful Salmon Rondon free-kick, but the penalty allowed Josh King to quickly equalise.
Newcastle fans were also left frustrated by Dean’s leniency towards Bournemouth midfielder Jefferson Lerma.
Despite the midfielder committing plenty of fouls, including a dangerous studs up challenge on Perez, he avoided being sent off.
The Toon faithful had thought they’d seen it all from Dean during the match, until he also failed to penalise a Bournemouth back pass late on.
And despite some last minute heroics from Matt Ritchie stealing a point, fans are still furious with Dean’s performance.
Newcastle fans react to Mike Dean decisions
https://twitter.com/joemooree11/status/1106968662349672449
https://twitter.com/agbnufc/status/1106962691216822274
Benitez echoes fan frustrations
In his post match conference he stated: “The way things were going on, we’re not very happy with that,
“We are not happy with a lot of things. If you analyse situation in the first half, DeAndre was (fouled) in the box. The penalty against us. You’re talking about things there where we have different opinions (from the ref).”
The Toon manager was clearly displeased with the decisions that went against his side.
However a draw was probably a fair result for the Magpies.
Neither side played particularly well, both failing to get a real hold on the game.
Hopefully two spirited comebacks in as many games can inspire Newcastle to some more big results after the international break.
