Penalty decision angers Bruce

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has voiced his frustrations at a contentious Liverpool penalty in the Reds’ 2-0 win at the Stadium of Light.

Dirk Kuyt converted a first half spot-kick after John Mensah fouled Jay Spearing on the edge of the area, and referee Kevin Friend awarded a free-kick.

Friend’s decision was overruled by the linesman who gave a penalty, and Kuyt stepped up to open the scoring, but Bruce was angry the penalty was awarded, with replays showing Mensah’s contact was outside of the area.

“The referee was 10 yards from the incident and the incident clearly took place outside the box,” Bruce told Sky Sports.

“There wasn’t a second challenge that tumbled him into the box. If you look at John Mensah when he goes to ground, he’s a yard outside when he makes contact.”

Bruce said Kenny Dalglish’s team were unstoppable after their match-turning penalty, and Luis Suarez sewed up the result in the second half with a beautifully-struck goal from an acute angle.

“For me that was the turning point of the game. We were well beaten after that, we have to hold our hands up,” he said.

Dalglish gave a positive assessment of Suarez and Andy Carroll’s first start alongside one another for Liverpool.

“I thought it was a great effort for him (Carroll) to play 90 minutes on Thursday and 70 minutes here. He’s not scored yet but he will score,” he said.

“You can tell he’s a threat, you can tell he’s a great asset for us. You can see from the way him and Luis (Suarez) linked up a couple of times there’s going to be a lot to look forward to.”

Suarez was substituted late nursing a groin injury, and Dalglish said he will not be releasing the Uruguayan for international duty next week should Suarez’s niggle be a serious one.

“We’ll just have to wait and see (the extent of the injury). He’s got a couple of games with Uruguay but they’re only friendlies so if he’s injured he won’t be going,” Dalglish said.