Mike Dodds has reacted to Jobe Bellingham’s disallowed goal after Sunderland’s win over West Brom.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, the Black Cats caretaker manager admitted he ‘didn’t really think much’ about the decision.
Mike Dodds took charge of Sunderland for the first time since Lee Johnson was sacked last year, when the team fell to successive defeats against Doncaster Rovers and Cheltenham Town.
The 37-year-old went bold with his first team selection, opting to play without a striker and playing Jobe as a false 9.
It wasn’t long before his tactics looked to have paid off when Jobe tucked the ball home following the rebound from Adil Aouchiche’s shot. However, the goal was immediately ruled out for offside.
The decision turned out to be a very poor one though, with the replay showing that Jobe was very clearly onside – while it was Patrick Roberts who was off, but the winger wasn’t interfering with the play.
Given that Sunderland still went onto claim all three points, Mike Dodds didn’t seem too phased by the linesman’s mistake.
He said: “I try not to get too emotional in terms of getting wrapped up in those decisions because when you play against Carlos Corberan’s team, it’s a heavily tactical game.
“You’ve got to try and immerse yourself in the game, so I didn’t really think much about it and it wasn’t until just then the lad said they think it was on side. But listen, we won the game, so it is what it is.”
How often are Sunderland wrongly punished by the officials?
Fans won’t return home quite as frustrated after they went onto win the game, but it was yet another howler of a decision that has gone against Sunderland this season.
The standard of officiating in the Championship has been very poor, and it wasn’t even the only one in the first half of the game. The Black Cats should have also had a penalty for a foul on Patrick Roberts.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter too much like today, but other times these silly mistakes can cost us points.
We can have all the quality and all the form in the world, but if the officials can’t make simple decisions then we will always be at risk of being in trouble.
West Brom fans might feel hard done by too though, with Dan Ballard being shown a yellow card for a foul on former Sunderland striker Josh Maja.
The centre-back could have been sent off, but kept his place and went onto score the opener.
It was a positive performance from Sunderland and a happy day for Mike Dodds, but another defeat for England’s officials.