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The Royals left Portman Road this evening with just one point to their name, but felt they should have had all three. If it hadn't been for Mr Curson's bizarre decisions Reading would almost certainly have held out for a 1-0 win.
A fuming Alan Pardew remarked: "It's been a frustrating afternoon, and in all my time in football - playing, coaching and managing - I've never been as annoyed as I was today.
"Referee's have a hard job but they are judged and that's what I want to see. The assessor will make a report and I'd very much like to see it, if the accessor thought he had a good game then I want to know that."
The card-happy referee made his first booking inside ten seconds, but there he would not stop. A succession of fouls littered the game before Nicky Shorey was dismissed for felling Pablo Counago just outside the penalty area. When Mr Curson issued the card just twelve minutes were remaining. The Reading travelling support were somewhat infuriated by the decision.
A match packed with bad decisions culminated in the last minute penalty which was awarded when Jim Magilton threw himself over Steve Brown's apparently legal tackle.
Pards did not believe that the spot kick should have been given. Continuing with his outburst he added: "My player should never have gone to ground which he did, and Jim Magilton wasn't touched but he went over, which I would expect one of our players to do in the same situation.
"I didn't think it was a penalty but the ref was consistent in that he gave it."
Local radio reported that once the microphones were switched off Pardew revealed that in the tunnel after the game he said 'Well Done' to Jim Magilton for his dive that won the penalty. Magilton is alleged to have responded 'Thanks'.
The Reading boss revealed that he may ask the FA to rescind Nicky Shorey's red card once he has had a chance to review the video. Pardew also suggested that the referee was 'looking' for an excuse to give a player his marching orders this afternoon.
When asked about Shorey's red card, Pards admitted: "I'll have to look at that (the incident) and if I think I can appeal I will.
"I had to take Sidwell off because he had been booked and I thought the ref looked in the mood to send somebody off. It was unfortunate that I had to disrupt my team by taking off Sidwell, which I didn't want to do, but I thought he wouldn't saty on the pitch for too long."
At the end of the game Alan Pardew ran onto the playing field to confront the referee. Many thought he was there to berate the ref, but Pards admitted he was on the field merely to congratulate the official on his display, and keep his players away from the man in the middle.
"I just went over to him and said 'well played' because I wanted to get my players away from him. I forgot to shake hands with Joe Royle first but I'm sure he'll forgive me in the circumstances."
We can't help but think that there may have been at least a little bit of sarcasm in that 'well played'....