Steelers fury over referee penalty spree

Sheffield were hit by more than an hour and 20 minutes worth of penalties in the Challenge Cup defeat to Scott Neil’s team, as opposed to Capitals’ 12 minutes.

Defenceman Mark Thomas cast doubt on referee Moray Hanson’s handling of the game and said team-mates had been warned they might be in for controversial officiating.

Thomas said: “We all felt the penalty minutes were one-sided, but we’d been warned the refereeing can be like that in Scotland.

“I think the way the game was run was the reason for the defeat. Credit to Edinburgh, they are a better team than last year, but we should still be beating them. For me, it was because of the refereeing that we didn’t.”

Ryan Finnerty blew his top and received a game misconduct because of a “stupid” penalty awarded against him while Jonathan Phillips received the same for complaining to the referee after being punched and elbowed in the face, claimed Thomas.

Those incidents accounted for 62 minutes of Steelers’ total. Thomas also claimed a goal against Steelers was unfairly awarded as the puck had not crossed the line.

Today Edinburgh owner Scott Neil insisted Hanson was in no way biased towards Capitals.

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