Sunderland AFC news: Blackpool boss disagrees with Jack Ross over penalty appeal plus Cats boss explains Duncan Watmore recall

Blackpool boss Terry McPhillips thought his side should have been awarded a penalty against Sunderland.

The Black Cats midfielder went down inside the penalty area after Armand Gnanduillet had opened the scoring for the visitors.

On first viewing Sunderland boss Jack Ross felt his player should have been awarded a spot kick, yet McPhillips disagreed.

"The referee has got that one wrong and when their lad goes down he doesn’t give it," said the Blackpool boss. "So if it’s not a penalty it’s a dive and should be a booking.

“We never got any of that but it’s a big crowd and the referee’s only human. He’s a nice guy but I think he got it wrong.”

McPhillips also thought referee Carl Boyeson was swayed by an earlier decision not to award Luke O'Nien a spot kick for the hosts.

When asked if he thought the referee was influenced by the earlier indecent and the home crowd, McPhillips replied: “100 per cent yes but that’s the way it is.

“It hasn’t gone for us and we’re really disappointed but we have to get on with it.

“We’d probably have taken a point before the game but there’s real disappointment and frustration in the dressing room that we haven’t got all three points.

“We certainly thought we should have had a penalty. If you get the penalty and you score it, you’re in the driving seat, so that’s disappointing. It was nailed on. I don’t need to watch the video – it’s easy."

Sunderland salvaged a point after Jack Baldwin's 75th-minute equaliser but struggled to break their opponents down from open play.

Ross recalled forward Duncan Watmore to the side, handing the forward just his second league start of the season.

Watmore looked lively with his threatening runs against the Tangerines and Ross was impressed with his overall display.

"I thought he was a big part of us being much more effective in the final third," said the Sunderland boss.

."We've looked long and hard at that because we've been honest enough in recognising that we haven't created as much int he last five or six games.

"The way Duncan plays this game is different to probably all our other attackers.

"He's looked better in training in the last couple of weeks.

"His performance tonight was what I was oping we'd seen from him given how he's been in training, and it was another big step forward from him."