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Redknapp rages at referee Webb

Harry Redknapp cut a frustrated figure at White Hart Lane © Getty Images

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Harry Redknapp hit out at referee Howard Webb and the Tottenham boo boys after watching his side blow a 1-0 lead to extend their winless run in the Premier League to four matches.

Redknapp saw Asamoah Gyan cancel out a strike from Rafael van der Vaart to earn Sunderland a 1-1 draw, but his focus was on the decision by Webb to book David Bentley for diving and a foul by Lee Cattermole on Luka Modric.

''It was a penalty, a blatant penalty, wasn't it? I just watched the replay of it," Redknapp said of the incident that earned Bentley a booking. ''How he [Webb] can book him...He's not got anything against Tottenham or anybody else but it's how he saw it. I've never been one for criticising referees; it's never been my game.

''But it was a blatant penalty tonight. If you get the penalty, it could make a big difference.'' He added of the tackle by Cattermole, who has earned two red cards already this season: ''I don't know what he does other weeks; I'm only interested in that tackle today and it was a bad tackle in my opinion.

''It could have broken his leg easily. He's [Modric] got some bad marks on his leg but he was lucky he didn't break his leg. He [Webb] has to understand the difference between going over the top of the ball and playing the ball.

''It just sounds like I'm criticising him. Two key decisions I felt that weren't right but that's how it goes.''

Redknapp also chastised the Tottenham fans who booed at the final whistle just a week after cheering their team to the rafters in the club's historic Champions League win against Inter Milan.

He said: ''What have they got to moan about? What they see here and what they've seen here. We couldn't have done any more tonight; we couldn't have tried any harder.'

''They've had it so good over the years, you see. When you keep winning league championships every year, you get upset when you don't win.''

Bemoaning his injury problems, he added: ''At the end of the day, you've got [Aaron] Lennon, you've got [Jermain] Defoe, you've got [Ledley] King and you've got [Michael] Dawson - you've got key players missing. I couldn't come in and say we were crap or we didn't play well. We worked our socks off.''

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