Newcastle United and Sunderland supporters are rarely united in their complaints but both sets of supporters have every reason to be incensed. Craig Pawson took charge of the Magpies draw at Manchester United on Sunday before being the man in the middle for Sunderland's defeat at Blackburn Rovers.
Pawson came under huge scrutiny for a number of controversial decisions at Old Trafford. Callum Wilson was hacked to the floor in the first-half by Raphael Varane with penalty appeals waved away by officials, leaving black and white supporters furious.
Speaking on Match of The Day, Danny Murphy said: "Varane comes across and blocks his path, and Wilson has nowhere to go. That simply has to be a penalty, I can't understand it. Worst decision of the weekend that one, it's an obvious penalty. It would have changed the game."
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Newcastle would have been handed a golden opportunity to give the Magpies the lead, but the hosts were also left angered by a number of decisions. Manchester United were aggrieved by a decision to rule out a Cristiano Ronaldo goal, as well as having their own penalty shout after Jadon Sancho went down in the box.
Speaking after the draw, Eddie Howe admitted on another day his side may have been awarded the penalty. He said: "I've watched it back very quickly. I thought it was a very strong shout for a penalty.
"It looked like as Callum was running and caught the lad's calf. I've seen them given on another day."
The Red Devils have since been charged for failing to control their players for remonstrating with Pawson. Less than two days later the official took charge of the Black Cats game against Blackburn Rovers.
There was almost an identical incident with Jack Clarke being denied a stonewall penalty when he was tripped by Ryan Hedges. Sunderland were not as fortunate as Newcastle.
Rovers went up the other end and Ben Brereton Diaz curled a stunning effort beyond Anthony Patterson to give the hosts the lead. Sunderland supporters were left incensed by the decision, but with no VAR, the penalty was not checked.
"The bench was saying it was a stonewall penalty, but the referee was adamant that it wasn't," Tony Mowbray said after the game. "What do you do?
"I don't want to sit here after every game speaking about the referee, and yet I seem to. It's really difficult because I don't want to be that guy who blames the referee - I'd rather talk about Brereton's amazing finish, really."
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