Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has backed the use of independent timekeepers, arguing that it will help clarify the current confusion over the minimum amount of time playable after the 90 minutes are up.
Hughes was angered after his side lost 4-3 at Manchester United on Sunday, with Michael Owen hitting a dramatic winner in the sixth minute of injury time at Old Trafford when the fourth official had indicated a minimum of four minutes additional time.
Hughes, though, feels a different system could prevent incidents such as confusion occurring again in the future, saying: “There is a little bit of an area that needs a little bit of a clarification for everyone.
“When people are putting a board up and it is in lights and there is an amount of time shown for everyone, then it can cause confusion if that allotted time is exceeded.
“If you are looking at a different system whereby the allocation of time is taken over by someone else, then maybe that would help.
“I’m not saying I’m advocating it, but maybe that is an alternative that can be investigated.”
Meanwhile, Hughes maintains that Craig Bellamy will not face in-house punishment after an altercation with a fan in the closing moment of Sunday’s game.
The striker confronted an individual who had run on to the pitch at the end of the game and appeared to slap the intruder in the face.
“We are still waiting for notification if there is going to be any from the FA in regard to that,” said Hughes.
“But my take on the situation was basically that Craig wasn’t privy to how much time was actually left to enable us to get back into the game so he obviously wanted the guy to get off as quickly as possible and told him so.
“Obviously, the guy has made an aggressive movement towards him. My view, and Craig’s view, is that he put up a defensive hand and pushed the guy away, which I think he was right to do as you never know what is going to happen in those situations.
“That is the top and bottom of it. We haven’t been contacted by the FA at this moment in time. But if they do contact us, that is what we will say.
“At the time, it wasn’t something that was highlighted immediately. The circumstances of the game maybe clouded that.
“In the context of the game, it was an incident that was something out of nothing and that is how we viewed it.”
