Jarrad Branthwaite is baffled that Ibrahima Konate avoided a sending-off in Everton’s defeat to Liverpool.
Sean Dyche’s side were reduced to 10 men late in the first half when Ashley Young received a second yellow card during their eventual 2-0 reversal.
The Blues could have seen parity restored when Konate fouled Beto on the halfway line but referee Craig Pawson refused to dish out a second booking.
Branthwaite admits that he is perplexed that the Reds’ defender avoided a similar fate to Young and has called for greater consistency in officiating.
He said: “Beto’s went past Konate who was on a yellow already, takes him down. It’s clear, so I don’t know how its not a second yellow card.
“He’s gone right through the middle of the pitch, it’s one v one, it’s a blatant yellow but he hasn’t given it so we can’t do anything about that now.
“There’s no consistency throughout the refereeing.
“If they get a sending off then it’s back to a level playing field and it can be a different game.
“But we were down to 10 men and against it all game because of the decision that he hasn’t give to award a second yellow for Konate.
“But I’m not going to go into that anymore.”
Despite the controversial manner of the loss, Brantwhaite believes that Everton can take positives from their performance at Anfield on Saturday.
“I think it showed our mentality,” admitted the defender.
“It’s something the manager goes on about a lot; having a good mentality, keep fighting to theend, keep being aggresive in your tackles, keep winning your duels.
“I think we did that with 10 men right to the end and think we’ve got to hold our heads up high.
“We forget about the game now but take the positives and go into the next one.”