Stoke City boss Tony Pulis brands diving a 'disease' after Robert Huth is sent off against Sunderland

James McLean scored the only goal of the game, but the match was overshadowed by the controversial decision by referee Martin Atkinson to send off the German defender after the centre-back flew in on Meyler just before the break, sparking anger from the home side’s bench and fans.

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Pulis believes, after watching back the tackle, that Huth pulled out of the tackle before any contact was made and that Meyler’s reaction is a “disease” that must be dealt with.

Pulis said to reporters: “I’ve watched it twice now and Robert’s [Huth] committed himself and then pulled out of the challenge and doesn’t touch the kid [David Meyler] at all. What’s disappointing for me, and it’s got more engrained in the game, is the reaction of the player and I think it’s something Gordon Taylor and the PFA should really get to grips with because the game’s difficult enough for the referees, with the pace and tempo that it’s played.

“Then when you get situations when players are actually falling around and rolling around when they’re not even being touched, or not really hurt. We don’t want to be like other countries and take challenges out of the game, we want to be competitive and as fair as we possibly can.

“I think players are going down now with the intention to get a player booked, or even sent off when they’ve not really been hurt. For me that’s trying to cheat another professional, they’re part of the same union and it’s a disease that we should quickly stamp out.

“Initially when I’ve seen Robert go into the challenge, I thought that was reckless, but if you look at the challenge his feet are actually on the ground, he actually pulls away from the challenge when he realises he’s made a mistake and he hasn’t gone through."

The Welshman confirmed that the club will combat the decision, adding: “I think we definitely will [appeal].”

Pulis’ opposite number, Martin O'Neill however, was feeling much more positive after the game and taking all the spoils, with particular praise for goalscorer McLean.

O’Neill told reporters: “Obviously delighted to have won the game. The conditions, certainly in the last 20 minutes, borderline in terms of the game keeping going, although I never thought for one minute the referee was going to stop it.”

Speaking of James McLean’s display: “He’s performing brilliantly for us and he’s had a great couple of months and I thought he took it [his goal] brilliantly. I didn’t know him at all until I arrived at the football club, so to see him blossom it’s been very pleasing for everyone.”

The Northern Irishman’s view on the penalty contrasted to that of Pulis’ and he believed the referee made the right call.

He said: “I haven’t seen it back, but, my initial view of it I thought as though it was going to be a red card and given the new directives now it looked that way, I’m sure Tony [Pulis] will disagree. The players around thought it was a red card.”

Sunderland have taken 22 points from a possible 30 since O’Neill came aboard, but the manager was hesitant to consider their chances of gaining qualification to Europe.

He said: “I think we’re a long, long distance away [from qualifying for Europe]. It’s been a great run, the way the results are, they’ve been very important to us. The players are obviously playing with confidence and good self-belief and that’s all you can ask for.”

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