Fulham boss Tigana hits out at Cup referee

Fulham manager Jean Tigana blames fatigue and referee Phil Dowd for their humiliating FA Cup exit at first division Burnley.

Tigana is convinced his side were given insufficient protection by the match officials against aggressive opponents during Wednesday night's 3-0 fifth round replay defeat at Turf Moor.

But Japanese midfielder Junichi Inamoto claimed their inept performance was chiefly due to tired legs, with Fulham having played at Tottenham in the Premiership on Monday night.

"You could see Burnley were in better condition than us," said Inamoto, who was one of only three Fulham players not playing their second game in 48 hours.

"It didn't affect me so much, but you could see those who played at Spurs were more tired than normal. It made a big difference."

Tigana was more blunt.

"I was angry with the referee and told him he had to protect my players.

"In the first 20 minutes Burnley wanted to break Luis Boa Morte.

"They (the officials) should respect me and Fulham, but I don't have the power of Arsene Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson."

Burnley manager Stan Ternent hit back.

"I don't talk about other teams - I'm a little bit more professional than that.

"It's unfair but if that is Jean's opinion he is entitled to that.

"If being competitive is wrong, then we are wrong."

Fulham agreed to play their fourth game in 11 days because it guaranteed them 820,000 pounds (1.3 million dollars) from the match being televised live.

However, the price of taking the money became clear once Burnley, 11th in Division One, scored the opening goal through Gareth Taylor after 27 minutes.

Ian Moore added a second before half-time and Fulham's chances disappeared altogether when Sean Davis was given a red card on 49 minutes for a late, high tackle on Tony Grant.

His two-footed challenge had Grant writhing on the floor, but the Fulham midfielder - called into the full England squad for the first time earlier this month - looked stunned when Dowd produced a red card.

Drissa Diallo headed a third goal after 52 minutes, but by that stage Fulham already looked resigned to an embarrassing defeat to end thoughts of a second successive FA Cup semi-final.

Tigana was surrounded by stewards at half-time as he sought to make his protests known to Dowd. The Fulham manager - whose job is said to be under review by chairman Mohamed Fayed - showed more aggression than his team showed on the pitch.

"It was easy to see Burnley wanted to stop Boa Morte and in my eyes that should not be possible," Tigana said.

"Then Davis was sent off for his first tackle and the referee did not even see it - it was the linesman's decision."

Ternent - whose side now meet Watford in an all-First Division battle on Sunday, March 9 to reach the last four - refuted Tigana's claims.

"The tackle by Davis was late and high. It's not fair to say that we were out to break his players. We deserved to win and were superior in every department of the game," he said.

Tigana used Louis Saha as a lone striker supported occasionally by Inamoto, but tactics were superfluous as Fulham lacked Burnley's heart for the occasion.

The performance and result will do little to quell speculation that former Republic of Ireland coach Mick McCarthy is in line to take the Fulham hot seat.