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West Ham boss Grant blasts ref after Birmingham draw

West Ham United boss Avram Grant was furious after their draw with Birmingham City.

Grant hit out at referee Michael Oliver after his side surrendered a two-goal lead in the 2-2 draw at Birmingham.

Grant felt that Oliver should have awarded his side a late penalty after City substitute Jean Beausejour appeared to pull back Lars Jacobsen inside the penalty box, and labelled the decision "a farce".

Grant believed it was the latest in a line of decisions from officials to go against the bottom-placed Hammers, who had looked on course for their first away win of the season after scoring through Frederic Piquionne and Valon Behrami.

But the home side fought back and goals from Cameron Jerome and Liam Ridgewell rescued a point.

Grant said: "Harry Redknapp used the word farce about the decisions of a referee and I agree with him.

"The referee was five metres from the incident when the shirt of Lars was pulled and he did not give a penalty.

"I'm very disappointed because this is not the first time it has happened to us.

"Similar things have happened against Wolves, Stoke, Aston Villa, Bolton and Manchester United where decisions have gone against us.

"What we saw from 50 metres, the referee could see from five metres and he needs to give a penalty. This is a farce.

"Sometimes you don't see things but this was in front of his eyes. I don't understand why he didn't give a penalty."

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