TOM Cairney believes referee Sam Barrott should have stuck to his guns when ordered by VAR to look again at Raul Jimenez’s challenge on Newcastle’s Sean Longstaff.
The Mexican striker initially picked up a yellow card before VAR intervened and sent Barrott to the monitor for a second check.
As a result, the man in the middle upgraded the yellow to red with the game evenly poised at 0-0 in the 22nd minute.
Fulham held out until Lewis Miley fired Newcastle ahead 12 minutes into the second-half.
More goals followed from Miguel Almiron and Dan Burn to wrap up a 3-0 win for Eddie Howe’s side, although Cairney believes the outcome could have been different but for the early dismissal of Jimenez.
“I think that is the word – frustrating,” the Whites skipper told FFC TV.
“We came here full of confidence ready to give them a game.
“I felt like it was a competitive game for 15/20 minutes, I don’t know when it was until the red card.
“The red card changed the whole game.
“We were resilient at times, we dug in and tried to cause them a few problems but it was a long time with 10-men and it was a defeat. We got beat.
“The first goal is always key when you are down to 10 men.
“Then you go 1-0 down you’ve got to try and expand a little bit and get the equaliser. It leaves you open.
“But like I said, it could have been another game of football this afternoon.”
Cairney also questioned why Barrott chose to alter his initial yellow card award to Jimenez.
“It is a controversial red card,” he said.
“I don’t know what the ref is going to say after but I feel he has got to stick with the on field decision a little bit.
“He thought it was a yellow. Just because it goes to the screen, it doesn’t mean he has to change it.
“But I feel as soon as they go to the TV away from home, when the crowd gets on his back, he is always going to change his mind.”
As for the reaction of Jimenez himself to the decision, the Fulham captain could only pass on what his team-mate told him immediately after the incident happened.
Cairney revealed: “The only time I talked to Raul about it was on the pitch.
“He just said he has obviously jumped, pulled out of the challenge kind of mid-air but his momentum and the jump (he) has gone into Longstaff.
“It looked clumsy. It doesn’t look great, but it isn’t malicious or he hasn’t gone to hurt him, it is just a collision.
“I feel like it killed the game a bit.”
Fulham went into the Newcastle game full of confidence following a recent upturn in results, but the lack of away wins remains an ongoing concern.
Cairney said: “It is annoying because we’ve just won two games 5-0.
“The goal difference was good, so to concede three goals today is not nice. It affects that a little bit.
“But it is away from home in the Premier League. We have to sort that out a little bit and get that (away) win. It can’t be helped.
“We will see what the ref is going to say after the game and I’m sure there will be a few questions and talk about VAR again.”
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