Saturday 2 April 2016 21:10, UK
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has blasted referee Mark Clattenburg's decision to send off Cheikhou Kouyate during the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Kouyate was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Dwight Gayle midway through the second half of the match.
The 26 year-old Senegal international appeared to take the ball cleanly and, although the midfielder's foot was high, even opposition manager Alan Pardew admitted that the decision looked "harsh".
West Ham, who were leading 2-1 at the time, were made to pay just eight minutes later when Gayle struck home a fierce equaliser.
First-half goals from Manuel Lanzini and Dimitri Payet had put the hosts in control after Damien Delaney's opener.
And Bilic claimed that Kouyate's tackle might not have even warranted a free-kick.
"For me it's very simple to judge that situation," the Hammers boss told West Ham TV.
"It's nowhere near a red card and I think that anyone who had anything in any part of his life to do with football should say the same thing - there was no red card, no yellow card and it was in England not even a foul.
"Let's say it's a foul and that's it, and it had a big impact on the game."
West Ham are now three points behind Manchester City in the race for Champions League places but, despite dropping two points at home, Bilic says he is proud of his players' reaction to going down to 10 men.
"Make no mistake, we are at a stage where we are trying to win every game and we are not happy because, if you'd asked if we'd take a point before the game, no way," he said.
"But considering the circumstances of the game, this is a good point for us.
"The game had two parts - before the red card and after the red card - although after the red card we didn't sink or sit back. It wasn't the Alamo, but of course they gained more possession and were finding good situations more easily, but we also had moments in the game and we wanted to score the winning goal. It was a very exciting game."
Bilic was also impressed with the performance of France international Payet, who continued his fine goal scoring form with a superb 25-yard free-kick towards the end of the first half.
"It was a great goal," Bilic agreed. "The whole team were good and were dominating. We're simply a good side playing great football.
"We were not happy when it was only 2-1 because we should have scored another one and put ourselves in an even better situation than we did."
