BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche has called for officials to take time over the big decisions.

The Clarets were controversially denied a win at Birmingham City on Wednesday night by Federico Machedo’s stoppage time equaliser, despite a blatant handball by the Manchester United loanee.

A group of Burnley players rushed towards referee James Linnington to contest his call to award the last-gasp goal.

Dyche admitted he too had questioned the match official’s decision at the final whistle.

And while he accepts that they have one of the most difficult jobs in football, he feels more could be done to make sure they have a bigger success rate with big incidents in games.

“Arguably over the season we've had a few things go against us from the officials, and another went against us on Wednesday,” said the Burnley boss, who remained calm after the final whistle when questioning the decision.

“I was really disappointed, but I asked the referee quite simply what did he think, and he said he didn’t have a clear view of it. If it’s come off his arm, it’s the way it is, the decision is made.

“I thought there was a foul on Dave Jones in the build up as well, but we didn’t get a lot this evening of those maybe fouls.

“Things happen and referees have a tough job. The two managers and the referee I always say have the three toughest jobs in any given game.

“I expressed the idea that I think assistant referees have to be brave.

“There’s no point in ranting and raving. I try not to. I try to give an informed factual opinion on what I’ve just seen.

“That’s what I saw. I saw it in the moment.

“I would never expect a referee to ref a game according to a player’s reactions, but if you look at the reaction from so many players that’s often a very clear indicator, and if you look at our reaction there must have been eight of our players who immediately reacted.

“If a decision is marginal you might get one or two right near it, but when eight or nine or 10 react that’s usually a sign that something’s not right.”

Dyche added: “I would never expect a referee to make a decision purely on that, I just believe a ref or the linesman buzzes his buzzer, they calm down, they have a chat and a think about what they’ve just seen, and the decision might be different.”