Saturday 12 March 2016 19:06, UK
Ronald Koeman says Southampton will appeal the red card awarded to Sadio Mane in the closing stages of their 2-1 victory at Stoke on Saturday.
The Saints substitute was dismissed by referee Lee Mason after a collision with Stoke full-back Erik Pieters in stoppage time, but Southampton have now received six red cards this season, more than any other Premier League club.
Koeman, who was also critical of Mason's decision to turn down a penalty shout in the second half for Jack Butland's challenge on Dusan Tadic, believes the referee got it wrong on both occasions.
"It's a penalty, and the red card isn't a red card," Koeman said. "We will appeal against that. But we made a good step today, and our ambition is still to get in Europe. It's the same for Stoke, and it is a big win for us today.
"This is a very tough place to come and it's very good we are now above Stoke. It is a very important win for our ambitions for the rest of the season."
Graziano Pelle scored twice inside the opening 30 minutes for the visitors, his first goals since November, and Koeman praised the striker's match-winning performance as Southampton climbed to seventh.
"He had a big impact in the game with two goals and it's fantastic," he added. "You know with strikers, if they don't score goals they start to get nervous, and he showed again he's a very good and very important player for the team."
Marko Arnautovic set up a nervy second half after pulling a goal back, but Southampton were able to see out the game with Fraser Forster largely untroubled.
It could have been more comfortable for the away side had Tadic not squandered the opportunity to put Southampton three goals ahead on the stroke of half-time, and Koeman admitted the miss threatened to turn the match in Stoke's favour.
"We played fantastic football in the first half, and the chance for Tadic was one of the key moments of the game to kill it off," he continued. "It was two against one and you have to score and go three up. But when it's 2-0 and they pull a goal back, it's a different game and that's what happened.
"Our start to the second half wasn't good but we defended really well as Stoke went more direct. We had the best chances and some decisions went against us. That made things difficult and emotional until the end of the game.
"It was not good defending for their goal because we didn't stop the cross and we were a little bit too late against Arnautovic. After that, we kept it calm on the pitch and that was good. It was a very deserved three points."
