Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew has said that he was frustrated with the standard of officiating in their pre-season friendly defeat to Sporting Lisbon.
The Eagles went down 2-0 to the Portuguese side as Fredy Montero scored a brace in the Cape Town Cup encounter, and although the 54-year-old was pleased with the quality of the game, Pardew has admitted that he was exasperated with some of the decisions made by the referee.
Pardew told reporters: "That was as close as a competitive game as you'll get during pre-season. I'm so pleased with that game, it was just what we wanted. Of course not the result but that was a Europa League-standard quality game out there today on that pitch.
"Unfortunately the referee had no concept of European football so almost every challenge was a free kick and we're not used to that and we probably gave away eight or nine free kicks around our box and we usually average about two. In the end they managed to score one and that changed the game.
"They were very quick to the ball and had good technique and were well organised and drilled. I thought it was a terrific first half with two different styles but even for Sporting the referee spoilt it a little bit and we were frustrated with the stop-start nature of the game."
Palace open their Premier League campaign against Norwich City at Carrow Road on August 8.
Simon Sinclair
