• Premier League

Referee to blame for defeat - Villas-Boas

Chris Foy sent Jose Bosingwa and Didier Drogba off at Loftus Road © Getty Images

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Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas hit out at referee Chris Foy after seeing two of his players sent off in a 1-0 defeat to West London rivals QPR.

Jose Bosingwa and Didier Drogba were both dismissed as Chelsea pressed the self-destruct button three times in the first half. David Luiz also conceded a needless penalty to gift the home side a first victory over their arch-rivals for more than 16 years and their first Premier League home win of the season.

Heidar Helguson dispatched the spot-kick before Foy controversially dismissed Bosingwa, who was judged to be last man when he hauled down Shaun Wright-Phillips. Drogba then gave Foy no choice but to brandish the red card for a second time with a two-footed challenge on Adel Taarabt.

Villas-Boas believes his players deserved credit for their spirit after playing for so long with nine men, but was furious with the referee's display.

"I have to praise the players because they were amazing," he told Sky Sports. "For 45 minutes we played with nine men and that takes courage - it shows the strength and commitment of squad.

"It's the third time in row where a referee has directly influenced the result for us and we're not happy with this. In three games there have been blatant refereeing mistakes. I'm very disappointed with Chris' performance.

"With nine players we kept our emotions very well. Chris and his team managed to play an emotional game and they conceded to the crowd and committed tremendous mistakes."

However, QPR manager Neil Warnock disagreed with Villas-Boas over Foy's performance.

"I don't think the referee's done much wrong today," he said. "He made fewer mistakes than both teams and I was glad to have someone experienced like him in charge.

"We've worked hard for 18 months to get a result like this (at home) and it's fantastic. Now we have to take that on board and get more results like that at home."

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