Southampton 1 Norwich City 1: Clattenburg returns with draw at St Mary's

 
Mark Clattenburg was booed by Southampton fans last night
PA
Nick Szczepanik28 November 2012

They say that the best refereeing performances are the ones you don’t notice, but Mark Clattenburg was never going to be that lucky on his return to Premier League action.

He spent most of his first match back in the middle since being accused of making a racist remark to Jon Obi Mikel during the Chelsea versus Manchester United match on 28 October with the jeers of the St Mary’s crowd ringing in his ears. He also antagonised Norwich City by failing to spot a handling offence by Rickie Lambert before the Southampton forward scored the opening goal of the match.

But it is a poor game when the referee is the central figure, and this one died on its feet in the second half. The home supporters had hoped to see Saints move back out of the bottom three with a third successive win but instead it was Norwich who extended an impressive sequence, stretching their unbeaten league run to seven matches with their fourth successive draw on the road.

Norwich were forced to make a key change after England goalkeeper John Ruddy revealed on Twitter that he will have surgery on the thigh injury that forced him off in the away game against Everton at the weekend and is likely to be out for three months. Mark Bunn, who replaced Ruddy at Goodison Park, continued in goal.

Clattenburg was clearly not out to win any popularity contests, earning chants of “You’re not fit to referee” from the home fans after 23 minutes following a series of decisions that seemed to go mostly against Southampton. He was jeered as early as the fourth minute when he refused to award a free-kick after Lambert collapsed in a heap following a challenge by Ryan Bennett. The chants began in earnest after he ignored an apparent foul by Grant Holt on Nathaniel Clyne.

But the Saints fans were overjoyed when the first free-kick he awarded in their favour, after 32 minutes, led to a goal – and one he should probably have disallowed. Adam Lallana flighted the ball in from the left, and it hit Lambert’s arm before rebounding back off Holt and dropping kindly for Lambert to poke in his sixth goal of the season. Holt, Lambert’s former team-mate at Rochdale, appealed in vain.

The home crowd’s joy was short-lived though as Norwich levelled in the final minute of the first half thanks to a dreadful error by Paulo Gazzaniga, the goalkeeper. Clattenburg awarded a foul for Clyne’s challenge on Robert Snodgrass on the right and the former Leeds midfield player bent the ball round a poorly set-up wall and under Gazzaniga’s dive – the young Argentine goalkeeper’s second costly error in three home games.

Man of the Match Lallana.

Match rating 7/10.

Referee M Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear).

Attendance 29,325.

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