[Mighty T.A.L.]

Grant upset with referee

Peter Grant was unhappy with the referee's display in Norwich City's 3-0 defeat at Burnley, whose manager Steve Cotterill has thrown down the gauntlet to his players.

Former Canaries striker Ade Akinbiyi opened the scoring after half-an-hour at Turf Moor before Andy Gray and Wade Elliott scored late on for Burnley.

Norwich boss Grant was happy with his players' performance, despite the result, but was not so enamoured by the display of referee Martin Atkinson.

"The only thing for tonight - yes I hate losing games of football - but if you're going to lose, perform like that and what you need is a little bit of help and honesty from the officials," Grant told Sky Sports News.

"By honesty, I mean by making the correct decision for both teams, not just one.

"They'll be getting the story right in there. You know the usual one, wait half-an-hour - that's not to tell you the truth, that's just so they get the story right."

The result means only a freak set of results could condemn Burnley to relegation, with Cotterill already looking towards next season.

The Clarets boss does not want his players to take their foot off the gas, hinting some are playing for their futures.

Cotterill said: "It's more like the Burnley we had at the beginning of the season.

"Unfortunately, it's too late for us to do anything about it, but, as I've said to the players, everything we do now is towards next season.

"So I don't want to see anybody go missing now because it means they need to be replaced in the summer."

Source: Skysports