Bruce: Shows his emotion at White Hart Lane
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Bruce: Ref bottled it over Gomes
Steve Bruce claims referee Kevin Friend may have been influenced by the home crowd in Sunderland's 2-0 defeat by Tottenham on Saturday.
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Friend awarded a penalty when Heurelho Gomes brought down Darren Bent early in the second half but only produced a yellow card despite the Spurs goalkeeper being the last man, with the Brazil international saving the spot-kick after his reprieve.
Bent's miss was a crucial moment in the game as Sunderland had gained momentum after falling behind to Robbie Keane's early strike.
Tom Huddlestone wrapped up the 2-0 win with a thunderbolt off the crossbar but the talking point surrounded Bent's penalty.
"For me the goalkeeper's denied him a goalscoring opportunity so I can't go along with the referee's explanation to me which was he was going away from goal," Bruce said. "That's a load of nonsense.
"I think he's taken the ball around him. If you look at where the ball goes, it doesn't even go out of play, so Benty for me gets on the end of it, and yes there might be somebody on the line, but I would fancy him to score when he goes round the keeper in that situation.
"Now it might have been a different result, the reserve goalkeeper might have come on and saved it but we would have been playing against 10 men with half an hour to go so that would have given us a huge advantage."
Bruce added: "I have to question if that had been the Stadium of Light we might have got a different decision."
Bent endured a frustrating return to Spurs after leaving in acrimonious circumstances last summer.
Replays also suggested he may have gone down too easily for the penalty, but Bruce added: "It's a stone-cold penalty. If somebody's rushing out at you, the one thing you are going to try to do is get out of the road."
Victory for Spurs came after back-to-back league defeats, with the three points raising hopes of them maintaining their place in the top four.
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp said: "Man City will be right there, Aston Villa will be right there and looking to push the top four. I think ourselves, the top four are very, very strong obviously and I think ourselves Villa and City will all be having a go.
"There's no reason you can't do it. It's not impossible to do. No-one has said you can't finish in the top four. You have days against Stoke when you murder them and days when you win 2-0."
Spurs were jeered off by their own supporters at half-time, despite leading, and Redknapp admitted his side were not at their best and had to rely on the heroics of Gomes, who pulled off a string of saves.
"We were very fortunate, the keeper's had a fantastic day but that's how it goes," Redknapp added. "We got three points, you can play well and get nothing. We've got (Aaron) Lennon and (Luka) Modric to come back and when they come back we'll play differently again."
Tottenham 2 - 0 Sunderland
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Your Comments
spursfanandy (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"simmosimmosimmo (Sunderland fan): In the real world, there is a very big difference between minimal contact and no contact. In this case, Bent was already at a 30 degree angle to the ground by the time he was level with Gomes. I repeat what I said in my earlier post. Had he stayed on his feet and jumped over Gomes's arm instead of trying (and succeeding) to con the referee, he would have had a clear run at an empty net. In this case, his cheating should also infuriate Sunderland fans, as it cost your team what would certainly have been a well deserved equaliser. Who knows what would have happened to the match after that!"
sofaking (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"Bruce, are you blind? it was an obvious dive and you know it? Was so happy to see Bent miss. He's a cheat. "
spursfanandy (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"Getting out of the road? All he had to do was jump (that's jump) over Gomes's outstretched arm. He would then have had nobody between himself and the open goal, and would almost certainly have scored. But he dived before reaching the arm. He should have been booked. Justice was done when Gomes saved."
wasnotwas (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"steve bruce-ure almost correct
it would have been a clear goalscoring oppo' but for one very important(overlooked) detail.
bent had already started to go down,so even had there been no contact he was on the floor.
which would actually have meant had gomes stuck the brakes on-bent would have been cheating by diving!
better wonder why stevei u allowed darren to go bent and take the spot kick himself?black cats already had shambles at spots this season with bent/jones.
i guess u deserved a point but lost,so thats the real hurt(we felt the same vs stoke).
meanwhile just ask fergie on todays ref' and the drogba pull on brown or terry/valencia!-im sure he wont be opening any vino rossi!"
simmosimmosimmo (Sunderland fan)
"Considering you were all 'soooo glad to see the back of him' you are very bothered about Darren Bent. Why so steamed up, get over chaps. Oh and by the way, see Petr Cech's red card against Rodillega, going away from goal, minimal contact. Sorry you all had your Arsene Wenger specs on. "
DavidB (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"When someone's rushing out of you, you try to get out the road? What? If he's rounded the keeper already apparently, throwing yourself to the ground is hardly "getting out the road"! Sunderland played the better football though. Hopefully the last two games will teach Harry to stop messing about with the formation, and playing people out of position. Keane and Defoe up front was working fine at the start of the season, and only 2 of WP, JJ and TH please!"
madeenio_2007 (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"Bruce: Ref bottled it over Gomes.........More like Bent bottled in front of Gomes ha ha ha."
bigjinks (Liverpool fan)
"Bruce, in your own words: "what a shame!""
dang75 (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"How could it be a goalscoring opportunity....it was Bent with the ball.....now if he had called it a "blasting it into row Z from 3 yards out" opportunity I would be with him"
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