Regan Slater, like Liam Rosenior, expressed his disappointment with referee Keith Stroud’s performance in Friday’s thrilling 4-4 draw at Sunderland.
When Alfie Jones was adjudged to have fouled Jack Clarke, Stroud gave Sunderland a hugely controversial penalty in the second half at the Stadium of Light, with Hull City leading 3-2 in a pulsating contest.
City protested vehemently against what appeared to be a dive by Clarke, but Stroud’s decision stood and Clarke remained on loan. Manchester United’s Amad managed to put the penalty past Karl Darlow..
Clarke then swept home the fourth to cap a fine counter-attacking move from the hosts, and it looked like a frantic game would end 4-3 until Stroud pointed to the spot in City’s favor deep into added time when Regan Slater was fouled, allowing Ozan Tufan to equalize.
Slater expressed his displeasure with the timing of Stroud’s decision and the impact it had on the momentum of a game his team was leading.
It was at best soft, but it was 100% “Slater told Hull Live about it. “I watched it again right after the game and it’s still not a penalty.
“To be honest, I thought the referees had one. The gaffer talks a lot about momentum and how it changes games; it can be small things or big things.
“Something of that magnitude completely changes the game. We’re in command, we’re in the lead again, and then he calls a penalty that was never called. It kills us, and we must find it within ourselves as individuals and as a group to restart and continue.
“Fortunately, we were able to accomplish this. I’m sitting here disappointed that we only got a point, but not getting a point would have been criminal.”
Slater was frustrated by his missed opportunity when City was a goal up; his close-range shot was well saved, and Sunderland had scored twice within a minute.
“It was like a rollercoaster for the players, staff, and fans, everyone, it was like that,” Slater continued. “I was disappointed with the opportunity; I had a good connection, but I probably needed to scuff it and hope it bobbled in.”
“Two goals conceded in two minutes were not good enough in our opinion; they were really sloppy goals.” We were at a comfortable point in the game, and we may have switched off and been punished.
We’ve talked a lot about being together over the last few days, and I felt like we were really together, especially to keep fighting until the end, because that’s what we’re all about.”
Slater’s excellent solo performance continued when he kept the ball alive on the byline before crashing in City’s third goal, and then in stoppage time, he was fouled for the penalty that Ozan converted to earn a well-deserved point.
The ball is definitely still in play, I wasn’t going to give it up easily – I think their centre-half thought it had gone out of play, which gave me enough time to get my head up, see my surroundings, and as soon as I saw I could get away with another touch coming inside on the angle it was getting smashed, I did.
“As the ball came in, I considered hitting it but quickly decided that wasn’t the best option because I didn’t want to see it go blazing over, so I worked half a yard to get a shot away and there’s clear contact.”
Obviously, I jump and make it look theatrical because that’s what you have to do; perhaps if I try to stay on my feet, he (the referee) won’t notice the contact.”
Soon after returning to East Yorkshire, City will be preparing for the visit of play-off hopefuls Millwall on Easter Monday, in front of another 20,000-plus MKM Stadium crowd, and Slater says the Lions’ challenge will be different from what they’ve faced in recent weeks.
“I’m very excited to be back there,” he said, “and it’s a quick turnaround.” “We won’t think about this game too much; we’ll look back at it, brush it off, take what we need from it, and move on to Millwall..
It’ll be another good test because they play a different style of football and are very good at it. Their playing style is different; it’s a new challenge that we’re looking forward to.”
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