YOU could have understood it completely had Sean Dyche spent the past week or so repeatedly jabbing several large and particularly pointy pins into a wax effigy of a referee.

The received wisdom is that goals change games.

True enough, but the decisions of the men in black are of equal bearing when it comes to determining the twists and turns that occur during the course of the 90 minutes of a football match.

And for the second week running, Dyche and his men were on the receiving end of what many perceived to be rough justice.

Last week Mark Brown saw nothing wrong with Daryl Murphy’s challenge on Lee Grant which led to Ipswich Town’s first goal and set the Suffolk side on their way to victory over the Clarets.

Fast forward seven days and it was Robert Madely’s turn to incur the wrath of the claret and blue hordes, by dishing out the double whammy of a red card to Kieran Trippier for handball and a penalty to the visitors.

Among the Turf Moor faithful, the debate raged long and hard into the night as to whether or not Mr Madely had made the right call.

Yet the truth of the matter is that right and wrong don’t really come into it.

As with all contentious decisions – and this is particularly true of those that crop up in the 18-yard box – it boils down to how the referee interprets what he has just seen.

One only has to watch any edition of Match of the Day to see just how self-evident this is.

On a different day with a different referee, Trippier would have stayed on the pitch and play would have been waved on.

Similarly, another referee would not have allowed Murphy’s goal to stand at Portman Road. It’s regrettable, but it’s just one of those things.

Credit to Sean Dyche for not belly-aching about it (although one strongly senses that self-pity is not part of his psychological make-up.) Credit to, for the way the players responded to their disadvantage.

It’s difficult to recall a side reduced to 10 men for such a long period so thoroughly dominating a game.

The positive attitude of the team was perhaps epitomised in Dean Marney who put in an admirable and convincing shift as make-shift right-back.

Next up is a trip to high-flying Hull. We’re due a lucky break – here’s hoping it comes at the KC Stadium.