‘You’re better than that’: BBC pundit critcises Portsmouth, Sunderland and Plymouth Argyle men after controversies
Referee Stephen Martin was a central figure in Pompey’s 2-1 defeat against Norwich City on Saturday afternoon.
BBC pundit and former Norwich City striker Chris Sutton has taken aim at Connor Ogilvie for his ‘dive’ against the Canaries on Saturday afternoon.
The left-back went down in the box after appearing to be fouled by defender Jacob Wright, with John Mousinho’s men trailing 2-1 in the dying stages.
However, referee Stephen Martin waved away Pompey’s appeals and instead booked Ogilvie for diving - much to the outrage of almost everyone inside Fratton Park.
But not everyone had the same view as the Blues, with Sutton calling out the 29-year-old along with Sunderland’s Chris Rigg and Plymouth’s Brendan Wiredu during a segment of his BBC 606 Phone-In show on Sunday evening.
The Premier League title winner crowned the Pompey full-back the first winner of this season’s ‘simulation game’, which takes aim at players’ diving across the Premier League and EFL.
And in his tongue in cheek rant about Ogilvie, Sutton was adamant players would get called out for any ‘dives’ against his beloved Norwich.
He said: ‘I didn’t want to bring this game back, I felt so uncomfortable but it never ceases to amaze me how many dives there are this weekend!
‘These three were the tip of the iceberg and it’s difficult to make a decision. Should have been Chris Rigg? He rigged the referee for Sunderland!
‘Brendan Wiredu, he was booked for diving but there’s one winner of this week’s simulation game. You don’t dive against Norwich City, you just don’t do it. It’s a no, no, no, no, no, no Connor Ogilvie.
‘You have won the award you don’t want to win. You’re better than that, you are a good player but just stop diving and never dive against the Canaries!
‘It doesn’t matter where you play, we will hunt you down. Stop diving!’
What John Mousinho had to say on penalty drama
Pompey fell to their first league defeat of the season, with Norwich cancelling out the Blues late push for an equaliser.
He told The News: ‘I thought it was a penalty on Connor. As soon as he blew the whistle I thought he was going to give the penalty.
‘I thought we deserved it, I thought we deserved it with the build-up of pressure and I thought it was a strange decision that didn’t go for us.
‘I thought that was the theme of the day, the penalty doesn’t go in and we don’t get a second penalty. John Swift’s one comes back off the bar and Wadds’ one at the end that he’s been burying in pre-season, he doesn’t bury it. That was the theme of the day.
‘There was definitely contact and ultimately he’s brought him down in the box, so I thought it was a definite penalty.
‘I’ll go and unpack it with the referee, but I thought it was a poor decision.’