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Le Bris criticises hair pull red card rule, Wolves booed off, incident sees fans evacuate stand

Sunderland’s Regis Le Bris criticises the hair pull red card rule, Wolves were booed off, and an incident sees fans evacuate the stand.

Nordi Mukiele put Sunderland ahead on 17 minutes, then the Black Cats went a man down when Dan Ballard was sent off for pulling Tolu Arokodare’s hair. There were chants of “Fuck VAR” and “It’s not football anymore”.

BBC Sport report that clubs were told at the start of the season that guidance was very clear, pulling an opponents’ hair would be considered a dismissal, with referee Paul Tierney followed the letter of the law in this case.

Santi Bueno equalised for Wolves on 54 minutes, but those, denting Sunderland’s European hopes, leaving them 12th place – four points off top six.

More pressure on Wolves boss Rob Edwards however, Jonny Drury reporting for the Express & Star that he and his side face ‘boos and derogatory chants from the South Bank’, the decision to take off Hugo Bueno for Angel Gomes was also booed. Edwards made his way straight down the tunnel rather than go over to applaud the fans.

There was also an incident, a supporter in the South Bank hit by falling metal from a PA speaker which had been attached to the roof of the stand during the first half, according to Express & Star. The fan was treated by medics there and then, avoiding the need to go to hospital.

A video has emerged of a fan confronting Nathan Shi, what would Fosun think about the attendance today? Why was Jeff at the training ground three days this week? I’ve got him on video. I’ve put it on YouTube. Why was Jeff at the training ground?

“You don’t want to speak to the fans? You don’t want to talk to the fans? You don’t care? You don’t care about why Jeff was at the training ground this week? He left at 4.20. Why was Jeff Shi at the training ground yesterday? I thought he had nothing to do with the club now.”

Sunderland manager Regis le Bris, speaking to Sky Sports on the race for Europe: “I think we are not thinking about the final position at the end of the season.

“The most important thing is the next game. If you are a good team, you can beat Manchester United and after that we will see.

“It is going to be a challenging fixture and I look forward to it. I hope we will be proud at the end of the season.”

On Dan Ballard’s red card: “I understand the rule and the referee has to execute it. But it is hard to understand in that condition, especially because it was intentionally. There was no violent conduct.

“I think it’s important for the referees and the Premier League to be clear with the rule because in this case, you can’t play a duel in case you accidentally grab something.

“I hope we will have a conversation with the referees to adjust this rule and make it better.”

“When the forward has long hair, it’s hard. It’s important to have this conversation and make the rule clearer.”

Sunderland defender Trai Hume on Dan Ballard’s red card: “I don’t know how someone can control doing that motion. It’s not on purpose. It’s obviously an accident. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Wolves manager Rob Edwards on restoring a positive feeling around the place: “It will be difficult before the end of the season.

“I think recruitment in the summer will be a big thing and then we have got to win football matches. We’ve got to be able to start well.

“We’ll try our best now to get some results. We got a result today, so we stopped the rot of three defeats in a row.

“We will have to stay strong at the moment. There is a lot of anger, I understand it. We are bottom of the league and have been relegated. People are not happy. There is nothing we can do than work really hard at the moment and find some more results.”

 Edwards speaking to BBC Match of the Day: “It’s a game we should win. In the end we have created a number of big chances, scrambles, some big opportunities and not taken them.

“The sending off helped things because it was a disappointing way to concede and it looked like it was going to be a difficult day.

“It was a difficult atmosphere for the lads to be play in and I think that made them anxious as well. But in the end, the lads gave everything. We created some good opportunities and should have won the game.”

Edwards on Dan Ballard’s red card: “It’s the letter of the law. We’ve had it twice with Tolu (Arokodare) this season. I’m not saying it’s a deliberate thing – but it’s happened.”

Twitter users reacted after Le Bris criticises the hair pull red card rule, Wolves being booed off, and an incident which sees fans evacuate the South Bank stand…

@matchdayben: A serious club would sack him at the end of tonight. The fans don’t want him here.

@irishwolf99: Desperately want Edwards to lead us to promotion, really want it to work for him. That though was a disgrace, as have the prior three games. Supine cowardice. 5ATB vs 10 men for 80 mins. Taking Hugo off for a guy who won’t be here. Giving Edozie an insulting 30 seconds. Fuck off

@theracingedge02: If playing for a draw agains 10 men when your already relegated doesn’t get you the sack then feck me, clueless

@JJMMHH80: Imagine not setting a team up to attack when we already relegated and at home. Edwards Out

@Gman2307: Scraped a draw against a 10 man Sunderland who didn’t sit back once they lost a man. Mediocre at best.

@COOPSthereitis4: Please can we just fuck Edwards off now. Absolutely out of his depth

@_jwynny: Playing 10 men for an hour and that’s genuinely the best you cunts can do. Sack him tomorrow

@salopwolf: Edwards straight down the tunnel, hopefully out the door

@Janderson1394: He can’t be in charge next season, just negative football regardless of what squad he currently has he

@Super4547476563: Yeah fair enough, but it’s still 8 points behind the Terry Connor 11/12 team that everybody took the piss out of. No fucking chance they’re reaching that

@marcussbell: the handball rule and hair pulling rule are fucking ruining this game, how we don’t get a penalty at the end is beyond me #safc

@a1973safc: Up against the worst team in the league by a mile & you don’t play Brobbey & Isidor together. Showed zero intentions of showing the difference in class & that you wanted to win this game & keep the European chance alive. Pathetic.

@CharlieSafc_: So timid it’s unreal, just let them do what they wanted at the beginning of the second half. Take some risks ffs #safc

@AmadMackem: 10 men from 25th minute. Yet only 3 of 5 subs made. Baffling. #safc

@Coopertom94: Roefs timewasting at the end.. Regis not taking any risks. 1 point means nowt, 3 would keep us in the mix. Ballard being a donkey. Just another weekend! #safc

@LiamfletcherR21: If you can’t win, don’t lose. Points a point. It is what it is 🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️ #safc

@WfcJoe_: Have I missed something looking at these replies. Sunderland just promoted and tipped by most as favourites to go down. Have stayed up comfortably and have a small shot at Europe despite being their first season up. And their fans are acting like this?? The entitlement is mad

@BilbaoBlackCats: A match spoilt by the referee and VAR. Absolutely pathetic decision to send off Ballard for that when there’s no intention to pull the bloke’s hair. Looked dangerous when Isidor come on. Should have let it run rather than try to bring it down. Ha’way The Lads 🔴 ⚪

@DavidHindmarsh7: Can’t believe the approach to that second half, especially after they equalised, so negative. 10 men or not, we could have done more there. Roefs getting booked for time-wasting at the end sums it up really. No intention to go for the win, so poor.

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