One bold refereeing call has been slammed by Norwich City boss Johannes Hoff Thorup following Sunderland’s victory.
The Black Cats managed to notch a win in their final home clash of 2024, with a 2-1 win against Norwich City maintaining Regis Le Bris’ unbeaten home record.
Sunderland found themselves up against the cosh in the first half of the game, with Anis Ben Slimane’s finish getting the Canaries’ noses in front until the pendulum swung at the interval. Dan Ballard stepped up only minutes into the second half, with a thundering header, and Jobe Bellingham confirmed the win with a brilliant goal.
Overall, it wasn’t the best performance by the Black Cats, with Ballard suggesting that Le Bris’ side weren’t at the peak of their powers, and it has been argued that Sunderland were somewhat fortunate with the refereeing calls, that is according to the Norwich City boss.
Norwich boss Johannes Hoff Thorup slams refereeing decision vs Sunderland
Sunderland were helped to a win by the red card handed to Jose Cordoba in the second half, who picked up a yellow for a late challenge on Chris Mepham in the centre-of-the-park.
Norwich boss Thorup was far from convinced of the refereeing performance, aside from the second yellow card handed to his centre-back, where, per James Copley on X, he ‘says the referee was well within his rights to give it but that he got some other big calls wrong during the game’.
The game was full of controversies, particularly with Borja Sainz being in the middle of things, particularly in the first half.
Sunderland needed red card boost to spark home win
Sunderland were certainly on top of the game in the second half, particularly after Ballard got himself on the scoresheet to level up the game.
However, it is clear that Norwich City were doing pretty well to hang on to a point at the Stadium of Light, despite their somewhat dire defensive stats throughout the 2024/25 Championship campaign, and whilst the red card handed to Cordoba was certainly the correct call, it was one that the Black Cats needed to fall in their favour.
Often in promotion races, teams need an element of good fortune to fall their way, and Sunderland certainly needed that boost to help them towards all three points.