Hughes: Ref bottled the big decisions
FULHAM (0) vs BOLTON (1)
FULHAM boss Mark Hughes slammed referee Stuart Attwell as his side were sent crashing out of The FA Cup at the hands of Bolton.
Croatian striker Ivan Klasnic (right) put the pressures of a police investigation behind him to score the only goal of the game, a smartly taken volley after 19 minutes, at Craven Cottage to set up a quarter-final tie at Birmingham.
Police in Manchester have confirmed that Klasnic will not face charges over the alleged rape of a teenage girl, following an investigation dating back to October.
But in a fiery game Cottagers manager Hughes was unhappy with Attwell and accused him of ducking some major decisions.
The Fulham fans vented their fury with Attwell after he failed to punish a string of nasty fouls from the visitors, in particular Martin Petrov, who escaped with just a yellow card after appearing to elbow Chris Baird in the face.
Hughes said: “There were a couple of situations where you think the referee needs to make a positive decision and just waving your arms for an advantage can be a cop-out.
“In and around the box you don’t particularly want advantage. You want free-kicks and set-plays, which we didn’t seem to get. In the second-half, there were a few decisions we found difficult to understand.”
There was one positive for Hughes and Fulham in the return of striker Bobby Zamora from a broken leg.
The England star has been out of action since September following a challenge from Wolves midfielder Karl Henry, but made his comeback for the last 24 minutes of the game.
Hughes was pleased to see him back in action and now has a selection issues up front with Zamora, Andy Johnson, Mousa Dembele and Eidur Gudjohnsen all vying for a starting place.
Hughes added: “If we take the positives, the appearance of Bobby Zamora was huge for us and everybody saw what talent he has and what we have missed this year.
“He has been training for a long time. It was a case of getting him out there and making him a part of it – hopefully it will bring him on.”