Alan Pardew was disappointed as a penalty helped Blackburn beat West Ham 3-2.
West Ham boss Alan Pardew was disappointed with referee Mike Riley after a penalty awarded to Blackburn helped them to a 3-2 win at Ewood Park.Czech stopper Tomas Repka handled the ball in the penalty area at 1-0 to the London outfit, although it was doubtful whether the incident was intentional, and Paul Dickov made no mistake from the spot.
The incident handed the momentum to Mark Hughes' side, and Pardew was desperately disappointed at the incident, as well as Riley's decision to book six of his players.
"I had the beauty of seeing it but even at the time I thought it was really soft," Pardew told Sky Sports.
"We are away from home, 1-0 up, the place is beginning to turn for us, we started to play a bit better in the second half and that was a crucial decision that changed the face of the game and you know not only that decision, after that we have taken six bookings today.
"We were top of the fair play league before today, suddenly we must be bottom of it for nothing.
"I'm looking around and thinking the whole way the game was handled today could have been better for us, without a shadow of a doubt, but that decision was a crucial moment."
Pardew revealed that after speaking to Riley he was still angered by the course of events, opining that the penalty gifted Blackburn a route into the game at a time when they were failing to threaten.
"I asked the ref at the end whether it was hand to ball and he assured me it was, which I find a bit misleading because after seeing it again it just hit his arm, he had no intention of trying to move his arm to stop the ball," Pardew continued.
"We do feel aggrieved. You get those decisions, have to live and die by them.
"But in the moment the game was dead, it was a moment that wasn't a real big surge of Blackburn pressure, it just came out of the blue and it was a major shock for my team."
Pardew also insisted that the penalty played a part in Blackburn's second goal which followed within 60 seconds, and voiced regret at Marlon Harewood's inability to convert when through on goal.
"It played a big part, the crowd was turning, began to get behind the team and a quick goal put us on the back foot.
"We showed great character to bring it back to 2-2, had a great chance to win it, so you know unfortunately he [Harewood] didn't take it and we got done again on the third goal."
Pardew's plans were disrupted after just 21 minutes when Welsh stopper Danny Gabbidon was removed after a hefty collision with the advertising hoardings at Ewood Park.
Gabbidon was stretchered off in considerable pain, but Pardew was hopeful that the young defender would not be sidelined for a lengthy period due to the injury.
"He's taken a big gash to the front part of his knee, so I can't see him being involved in the next couple of games for sure.
"Hopefully there's no lasting damage there and it's just a cut, but that was an unfortunate incident for us."
