Fulham boss Chris Coleman expressed his disappointment at Middlesbrough’s ‘dubious’ second goal in their 3-2 victory over his Fulham side on Sunday.
Boro were handed a route back into the game when Yakubu Aiyegbeni diverted Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s shot in on 76 minutes, although Fulham were incensed that the goal was not chalked off for offside.
Whilst raising his concern at the validity of the goal, Coleman also suggested that the influence of the home crowd may have swayed referee Uriah Rennie’s decision.
“There were one or two incidents which we weren’t very happy with, the second goal was very dubious and that was disappointing but we’re not going to make excuses,” Coleman told Sky Sports.
“One of our players asked him (referee Uriah Rennie) and he said he couldn’t overrule his linesman.
“We are away from home and we have to take that into consideration.
“It’s a difficult decision for the referee, maybe if we had been at home it would have gone the other way.”
Coleman was disappointed at seeing his side twice lose a one-goal lead, and rued Brian McBride’s header that cannoned off the upright after Collins John opened the scoring with a sensational volley.
“I don’t know what we have got to do to be honest,” Coleman continued.
“Again you see the effort from our boys, we didn’t sit back, we attacked, we were 1-0 up, a great goal by CJ and then Brian McBride’s header hit the post and a centimetre in favour of us and it’s 2-0 and the game’s finished.”
The Cottagers were missing club captain Luis Boa Morte, as well as suffering from injuries, and Coleman revealed his frustration at being unable to field a settled starting line-up at the Premiership strugglers.
“Again we’ve got three very influential players not in the team today, Claus Jensen, Luis Boa Morte, and Carlos Bocanegra, all three of them have been on fire for us this season.
“We didn’t have them today, but credit to the guys who came in for us, they did a good job for us, but its frustrating for the stop start form.
“We get a couple of good results then we have a few injuries, I’ve got to change the team and some of the guys I’ve not played for a while get a chance.”
