Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris admitted the decision to rule out Wilson Isidor’s goal was a “little bit strange” in their crucial 1-0 win over Derby in their race for automatic promotion.
The Black Cats asserted their dominance in the first period and they had a goal to show for it when Jobe Bellingham played in Eliezer Mayenda for his fourth goal of the campaign.
The visitors had to resist against a Derby barrage in the second period to hold on to their lead before a moment of controversy struck in the 77th minute when Wilson Isidor smashed in off the crossbar for Sunderland’s second goal.
The players wheeled off to celebrate, but referee Sam Allison belatedly ruled the goal out for offside after a long conversation with his assistant referee.
Le Bris admitted the decision to disallow the goal was rather bizarre.
He said: “It’s so difficult to judge. It’s a little bit strange. I didn’t speak with the referees at the end of the game, I just watched a clip back – it’s difficult to judge.
“I don’t want to say whether it was a good or bad decision because it’s a decision you have to make in real time, but I don’t know why. It’s strange.
“We would like to have a more relaxed end of the game and then it was difficult to the end. It’s good because the character of the team is more and more powerful, and you need these experiences to learn to stay connected and work till the end.”
Three points for Sunderland moves them to within two points of the automatic promotion places before Leeds’ meeting with Norwich on Wednesday.
Le Bris added: “It’s a big win, important win for our journey I think. It was a tough game, we had the opportunity to score a second goal, we didn’t. It was difficult to press and apply pressure on their first ball.
“It’s a good win because they are really efficient in their way of playing and isn’t easy to solve.”
Defeat for Derby condemned them to a fifth straight league defeat and leaves them hovering just one point above the drop zone having failed to score in their last three, but boss Paul Warne was upbeat about the evening.
He said: “I do believe in this team and do believe they can go toe-to-toe with all the best teams, but you can’t play for just 40 or 60 minutes of a game.
“Sunderland are used to winning. We looked dangerous and it really pleased me, there’s ways to lose football matches and our second-half performance I couldn’t have asked for much more.”
On the disallowed goal, he added: “The thing I thought was strange was the time from it going in to being disallowed, I thought it was lengthy.
“No time during that did I think it was going to be disallowed. I’ve never seen it before, I don’t know why it was disallowed and am grateful for a bit of luck.”
