"Appalling" - Paul Heckingbottom left fuming with flashpoint in Sunderland AFC v Preston match | OneFootball

Sunderland's late equaliser against Preston North End has left Paul Heckingbottom extremely unhappy with the officiating

Paul Heckingbottom has criticised the officiating in Preston North End’s draw with Sunderland on Tuesday night.

Chaos ensued moments before Romaine Mundle’s late equaliser for the hosts, with confusion leading to the visitors to go from 12 players to 10 amid uncertainty over substitutions.

A sequence of injuries, including a head issue for Ryan Porteous, led to the Lilywhites briefly having 12 men on the pitch before the mistake was spotted prior to the game restarting.

In the middle of all the substitutions and delays, Preston only had 10 on the pitch when Mundle’s incredible strike levelled the scores for the Black Cats in the final moments of the 90 minutes.

Paul Heckingbottom criticises 10-men error

Heckingbottom has criticised the fact Preston only had 10 players on the pitch during Mundle’s impressive long-range effort.

He believes the officials handled the situation poorly, insisting that they did have room to make more substitutions, in order to replace Brad Potts after his hamstring injury.

"They scored when we had 10 men on, didn't they? That's the problem,” said Heckingbottom, via the Sunderland Echo.

“We had players out of position so that we could get that man on.

“Pottsy's done his hamstring.

“The officials were poor as well.

“Tom on the side is telling us we can't make another sub, until the ball is back in play we can.

“That's another reason it took so long, they're telling me we can't make a sub.

“You can, until the ball is back in play.

“It was absolute carnage and I thought we were the coolest heads out there to be fair.

“When you've got officiating like that, appalling.

"We'd done the subs, we'd been thinking about Ched [Evans] but we’d done the subs and then Pottsy told us he had done his hamstring.

“That was my insistence [that we'd make another sub].

“They'd have had us playing with 10 men for the last twenty minutes.

“They weren't accepting the card or the board, so it almost went back in play.”

Preston North End form

The draw means Preston are now six games in the league without a victory, leaving them 15th in the table ahead of this evening's other set of Championship fixtures.

Heckingbottom's side will have little else to play for during the final nine fixtures of the campaign now because they are too far away from the top six, and also quite clear of the relegation zone.

But the manager's ire at the dropped points against the Wearside outfit midweek highlights that he still wants to get as many strong results as he can to build a platform for next season.

Next up for Preston is a home clash against Portsmouth on 15 March in a 3pm kick-off.

No stopping a strike like Mundle’s

Heckingbottom can criticise the officiating all he likes, but the strike from Mundle was absolutely superb, and it’s hard to imagine it being stopped even with 11 men on the pitch.

It’s a setback for Preston to lose their lead so late in the game, continuing their winless run, and leaving them in no man's land in the Championship table.

But the draw is an even worse result for Sunderland, who missed out on a chance to close the gap to the top two with a winnable home game.

Preston didn’t respond well to the stoppage in play, whereas it actually allowed the Black Cats to settle and find their way back into the fixture, with Mundle’s impressive effort proving enough to salvage a point.