Moyes: Penalty was a ´terrible decision´

Everton manager David Moyes admits referee Howard Webb made a “terrible decision” in awarding his team a penalty at Sunderland.

Webb pointed to the penalty spot after Leon Osman had tumbled to the ground when miskicking despite appearing not to have been challenged by a Sunderland player.

Leighton Baines knocked home the resultant spot-kick amid howls of derision from Sunderland fans, the game finishing 1-1 as Moyes admitted his team were fortunate to earn a point.

“It is a terrible decision by the referee,” Moyes said.

“It wasn’t a penalty kick and Martin O’Neill should feel hard done by. I initially thought it was a penalty but I have had a chance to see it again and I don’t think it is a penalty kick.”

“I have come out and been as honest as I can. I always tell people what I see in the game. And it wasn’t a penalty kick.”

Despite the penalty decision, Moyes maintained the draw was a fair result but is concerned about his team’s lack of finishing power.

“It is a hard time to come to Sunderland with a new manager and a bit of momentum and Martin has got them going. It was always going to be a hard game for us to win,” Moyes said.

“We played really well for 25 minutes when we were the better team and created two really good chances for Tim Cahill and Louis Saha.”

“Sunderland got better in the second half but the conditions were terrible. We passed the ball well for 30 minutes and looked good but didn’t do much with it. But on the other hand, we didn’t have to defend an awful lot so a draw in the end was a fair result.

“It is clear for all to see that if we had taken our chances in the first half we could have been out of sight in the first 20-30 minutes but we didn’t. The lack of goals is a massive concern.”

Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill agreed with Moyes that Webb had made the wrong call awarding Everton a penalty, but refused to criticise the referee for the error.

“It is not a great decision by an otherwise top-class referee,” O’Neill said. “I spoke to him about it but he hadn’t seen it back but I obviously had.”

“Naturally, he must have thought there was contact but clearly there wasn’t and obviously it is disappointing. Like everything else, players get things wrong and so do managers.”

“I have to preface everything and I said this to Howard that they the job they do is the most difficult in the business and even though he is only seven or eight yards away from it he only gets one look at it. It is a difficult task. But I still think I probably did miss referees when I was away.”