Rafael Benitez Criticises Referee Mike Deans Decisions as Newcastle Earn Late Draw at Bournemouth

​Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has questioned Mike Dean's refereeing decisions - including one to award Bournemouth a penalty - during ​the 2-2 draw at the Vitality Stadium.

The Magpies took the lead through a fine Salomon Rondon free-kick on the stroke of half-time, before a second-half brace from Josh King - one being a contentious penalty - looked to have secured all three points for the Cherries. Matt Ritchie however netted against his former club at the death to earn a point for the visitors.

Despite the draw, Benitez was unhappy with a number of decisions made by Dean over the course of the game, with his biggest gripe being the award of the penalty, after Federico Fernandez was adjudged to have pulled down Nathan Ake during a corner.

Speaking post-match, as quoted by ​Sky Sports, he said: "Everything changed with a decision (the penalty). We are not happy with too many things and we cannot change that.

"I think that we did enough - and especially going 1-0 up - to manage the game and to get three points. There were too many things that were against us and then we had to react. The penalty of DeAndre in 10 minutes that was not given - you can check that.

"You can check the pulling of Rondon and then we can check the other one (Bournemouth's) that you will give 100 penalties. But I don't want to say too much. I'm not happy with the way things were going on, I'm happy because one more point and one less game."

The draw sees ​Newcastle remain 13th in the ​Premier League, now on 35 points, as the Magpies edged closer to safety following Ritchie's last-minute equaliser, with Benitez delighted his side's desire to fight until the final whistle.

He added: "The players showed character. They were working really hard until the last minute. We had the advantage in the first half and too many things went wrong in the second.

"In the end the team showed what we were expecting in this kind of game. We tried and we got the point but maybe it could have been even more."