Bruce hits out at Leicester ´whinging´

Hull City manager Steve Bruce hit out at Leicester City’s players and referee Jon Moss for contributing to a feisty atmosphere in his side’s 0-0 draw at the King Power Stadium.

Tom Huddlestone was sent off for two yellow cards, but Bruce’s ire was drawn by bookings shown to two more of his players.

Alex Bruce and Michael Dawson were cautioned for strong tackles in the second half, though both appeared to play the ball.

And the Hull boss was annoyed at Leicester players’ crowding Moss in a week that has seen pressure on officials heavily scrutinised.

Bruce said: “I’ve got no complaints about Huddlestone, but is every challenge now a yellow card if you mistime one?

“There’s a raging debate about Chelsea in midweek and if we’re not careful, I’ve seen everyone surround Alex for a red card on his challenge and for me it’s a perfectly good challenge you would expect a centre-half to make.

“The reason why we enjoy the Premier League around the world is its honesty and its integrity.

“If we’re going to go down the route of being like every other league, jumping around and whinging and trying to get people yellow cards and red cards, for me it’s not right.

“Dawson’s is right next to me and he plays the ball, blatantly plays the ball. So what’s the problem? It’s five yards away from me, I see Alex making the challenge too.

“But it’s a huge game for both clubs so and you could see there was a bit of nerves about the players, but we had the clear-cut chances and we’ve had to play for 25 minutes because of the anger in the crowd. 

“There was never a nasty challenge in the game but we’ve had five yellows and a sending off which I’ve never seen coming to be honest.”

Leicester boss Nigel Pearson angrily refuted the claims afterwards, leading to a testy exchange with a journalist in his post-match media conference.