Paul Lambert insists that even Sunderland felt Grant Leadbitter’s match-winning penalty should not have been given during Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light, while speaking to the East Anglian Daily Times.
In a battle between two of English football’s sleeping giants, the Black Cats came out on top against the Tractor Boys.
Just three days after a 2-0 win at Gillingham which contained its fair share of good fortune, Sunderland had lady luck on their side again as Ipswich arrived on Wearside.
Andre Dozzell’s second-half red card, with the scores level at 1-1, was certainly a little cruel. But that was nothing compared to the penalty which gifted Phil Parkinson’s side a much-needed three points with 84 minutes on the clock.
Arsenal loanee Mark McGuinness was penalised for the harshest of handballs after an Ipswich teammate cannoned the ball against his arm from point blank range.
No wonder Lambert was fuming at full-time.
“With the handball… well the Eric Dier incident a few weeks ago (in Tottenham’s 1-1 draw with Newcastle) actually changed the laws of the game. If you’re not looking at the ball, and Mark McGuinness wasn’t, then it’s not a penalty,” the former Aston Villa boss said.
“I mean come on, what are we doing to the game of football? What game are we actually playing? That was incredible.
“It was only spoken about a few weeks ago about those not being penalties. Even the Sunderland lads were saying to me after the game that it wasn’t a penalty. They never even appealed!”
Lambert was never going to let a contentious red card go unnoticed either.
“You look at Andre Dozzell… anybody looking at that incident has got to have the common sense to rescind that. That wasn’t, in a million years, a sending off. The actual foul is on Andre himself,” he added.
Sunderland fans won’t care, however, after a result that keeps them in the play-off places and just five points off top spot.
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