Scott Parker felt an overriding sense of pride despite Burnley’s cruel defeat to Brentford – but refused to get too drawn in the late VAR controversy.
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But that barely scratches the surface on what was an action-packed encounter full of drama, with Burnley having not one, but two ‘goals’ ruled out.
Scott Parker looks disappointed at full time following the 4-3 defeat to Brentford. Photo: Kelvin Lister-Stuttardplaceholder image
Scott Parker looks disappointed at full time following the 4-3 defeat to Brentford. Photo: Kelvin Lister-Stuttard
Parker’s side also fought back from three goals down to draw themselves level at 3-3, only for their comeback to prove in vain right at the death.
But when asked if he felt a sense of injustice as a result of the farcical VAR decisions, which prompted lengthy delays on both occasions, Parker said: “I'm not sure.
“We’ve been on the wrong end of some results this year and I’ve probably spoken about disappointment, frustration and I've probably used the word proud of the team when maybe we've got a result.
“To be fair, the overriding factor for me today is nothing but absolute pride, more than ever. I'm proud of this team in terms of what we did today.
“We can be critical, and certainly we were, certainly at half time. But the reaction to us in terms of what we went through, in terms of the disappointment of how poor we started the game, how soft we played in our moments.
“But the reaction of this group, the spirit of this group, the determination, the passion and the fight is something that I'm immensely proud of.”
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Burnley fans were left seething at the full-time whistle after Ashley Barnes’ equaliser was ruled out for an apparent accidental handball, despite there appearing to be no proof it definitely hit his arm.
On the incident, Parker commented: “To be honest, I've not even seen it. I've not watched it back.
“I see it on the big screen at the start. It looks like his hand is beside his side.
“I don't want to say too much here because I'm no doubt going to get quoted and I might be wrong. But I mean, it looks so, so harsh.
“We've gone and scored five goals in the space of 60 minutes, really, which is quite incredible.
“We get ourselves back in the game. Obviously, the world we're in at this present moment in time is, we're all looking for perfection. The game is looking for perfection.
“In general life, everyone's looking for perfection. Whether that's a picture you're taking of yourself or whatever it may be and that's the way the game's gone.
“So the first one is offside by that [margin] and that's the way it is, so I'm always in a weak position sitting here because we have the technology and you always fall back on technology and you fall back on: ‘oh well, it's the correct decision’.
“It depends what you're really looking for, so yeah, it was disappointing.”
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