O´Neill endorses Gomez red

Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill backed the decision to send off Jordi Gomez as his team beat Wigan Athletic 1-0 on Saturday.

Spanish midfielder Gomez was shown a red card by referee Howard Webb two minutes into the second half at the Stadium of Light, paying the penalty for a tackle on Sunderland’s Danny Rose.

The home side capitalised on their man advantage four minutes later when Steven Fletcher netted what proved to be the only goal of the match.

“My first thought was it looked a bit harsh to begin with,” O’Neill said.

“Having seen it back, I’m not so sure that the referee had much alternative.

“I was the first one to say on Tuesday night that Lee Cattermole deserved to be sent off,” he said, referring to his captain’s dismissal in the League Cup.

“Whether (Wigan manager) Roberto (Martinez) agrees or disagrees with it – it may have been a sending-off – but I think his main point was that maybe it changed the dynamic of the game from that viewpoint because we reaped our reward pretty quickly.

“We scored soon after that and it gave us some impetus, a lot of impetus, in fact.”

Martinez acknowledged Gomez’s tackle could be deemed reckless, but felt there was malicious intent from the midfield player.

“I think it’s harsh. It’s harsh because Danny Rose loses the ball slightly,” he said.

“Jordi tackles as a striker tackles, showing the studs, but he never leaves the ground, it’s not a two-footed challenge.

“I can understand why the referee gave it, but I think it’s very, very harsh.

“My disappointment is that (Sebastian) Larsson has made a worse tackle against (Arouna) Kone and is not even shown a yellow card.

“That’s just as you want as a manager, you want consistency for both teams.

“It’s down to the referee’s decision if he considers that that challenge is a red card, but then every challenge in the same manner should be a red card.

“That’s the disappointment. At the moment, we are on the back of a few bad decisions and you just need to take it in football. It happens.

“You just hope that over the course of the season, you are going to get good calls coming in our favour even though now, we find it difficult to understand that’s going to happen.”