Stoke boss Tony Pulis angry after Sunderland handball

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Referee got penalty call wrong - Pulis

Stoke boss Tony Pulis was unhappy after his side were denied a penalty for "blatant" handball at Sunderland.

Lee Cattermole went unpunished after appearing to handle a goal-bound header from Stoke striker Kenwyne Jones.

Stoke's Ryan Shawcross was dismissed shortly afterwards and Sunderland went on to score at the death to win 2-0.

"It's handball, everybody will agree it's handball, Cattermole gets sent off, you hope you score the penalty and it's then 11 against 10," Pulis said.

"Shawcross doesn't get sent off and it is a completely different game. It's very, very disappointing."

Pulis described the failure to award Stoke a penalty as a "game-changing decision".

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At the time of the incident, Sunderland were leading 1-0 thanks to Asamoah Gyan's first-half opener.

Eight minutes later, Stoke were down to 10-men when Shawcross was dismissed for a second yellow card after a foul on Danny Welbeck.

And with only four minutes remaining, Gyan went on to kill the match off with his second goal of the game.

After the game Cattermole said he was not sure what had happened.

"I think I tried to head it - I'm not sure, I would need to see it again," he stated.

But Pulis was more certain that referee Martin Atkinson and his assistant had missed a clear handball.

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"You go into games and referees are going to make mistakes, like players do, like every one of us in this room will do. You just hope they don't make game-changing mistakes," the Potters boss added.

"I have just seen the television replay. I never see the referee, but I will go to see him today. He has actually got a clear view from the camera angle that I have seen."

Stoke have rued several refereeing decisions in recent weeks, including the ruling out of a goal against Everton and handball in the penalty area by Bolton defender Zat Knight.