Stoke have beaten Crawley Town 2-0 at Broadfield Stadium on Sunday to make the FA Cup quarter finals, despite having a man sent off in the first half.
Rory Delap was shown his marching orders after 18 minutes, but goals from Jonathan Walters and Peter Crouch sent the Premier League outfit through to the next stage.
Tony Pulis was happy with his team efforts, but bemoaned the performance of the matchday officials.
“We had to show Crawley the utmost respect, which we did in our preparation. We are very, very pleased to get past them,” he told Sky Sports.
“It is a great achievement by the football club to have made a third successive quarter-final appearance.
“However, there is a big problem within the game in that I think professional people and referees are so far apart in what they see in terms of what are fair challenges or competitive challenges and the bad, reckless challenges.
“We had a fourth official [Lee Probert] today who I think has got Rory sent off.
“He has refereed a game against Liverpool and not even booked a player for what was the worst challenge in the Premier League this year in [Yohan] Cabaye’s challenge on [Jay] Spearing.
“Lee was five yards away and the difference between what we think and sometimes what referees think is enormous.
“As a profession we have to try and get closer to the referees to explain and express our views.
“But if you want to go and have a look at Cabaye’s challenge and then Rory’s today, you tell me which is the worst challenge.
“Like I say, that is the disappointing thing. The sometimes enormous gap between what we think and they think,” he concluded.
Stoke travel to Anfield to face Liverpool in the next round of the competition.
By Gareth McKnight
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