Decisions we've had against us have been bizarre

Last updated : 11 March 2008 By Tony Scholes
Pardew was far from happy with the way his side played against Preston last Saturday. "It was a load of crap," he said after they were beaten 2-1. "For the first time we looked short in departments and I won't accept that.

"Going into the game at Burnley automatic promotion is now beyond us. The facts don't lie, we haven't really put a run together this season and I don't expect us to just click into gear and suddenly win eight games, which is probably what we need to do.

"If we go to Burnley and put in a performance where we dominate the game and they get a couple of breaks and we lose 2—0, I will accept it more than the display against Preston. We looked seamless, we played within ourselves and we played with fear."

Owen Coyle is looking forward to the two home games but believes referees are costing us as we try to break into the top six. "When all is said and done, I think we were the first team to get a point at Stoke this year, but having said that we do still feel it was two points dropped. It was never a penalty and we paid a heavy price."

He continued: "But, we should be used to that by now, we've had three and a half months of not getting any decisions. People say these things even themselves out over the season but I Don't believe that. Some of the decisions we've had against us have been bizarre. We just have to make sure we now use that as a motivation to spur us on."

Speaking about our chances ahead of the last nine games he added: "You need to balance the expectation with realism but we can certainly achieve it. You don't have to pay the biggest amount of money in the league and necessarily have the best individual players to be the best team.

"We've got a bit of that, we have good individual players, but equally as a team we've got spirit and desire, plus we can play a bit too. We'll hopefully bring all that together and if we can do that we'll win games."

It's a big week for the Clarets with Charlton and then Wolves to come to the Turf. "Charlton are a very good side who have invested a lot of money into their squad, but we have got a group of players who know they can win that game and we'll be ready for it," Coyle said.

"There are going to be so many twists and turns and you have to make sure you are at your best each game. If we do that we are more than capable of going on an unbeaten run and hopefully that will start with three points against Charlton.

"It will be difficult, there is no getting away from it, these are two big, big games this week against Charlton and Wolves. We have to make sure we are at our best and try to maximise the points return. We gave a terrific performance in our last home game against Watford and if we can do that again I'll be delighted. We merited the three points from that match and if we keep giving that level of performance we'll get the win we deserve."