Birmingham manager Lee Clark claims referee 'mocked' Paul Robinson during draw with Burnley

Clark also claims the officials were arrogant in the entertaining draw

Federico Macheda, left, celebrates his late equalising goal (Getty Images)

Birmingham manager Lee Clark hinted he may report James Linington after claiming the referee “mocked” club captain Paul Robinson during the 3-3 draw against Burnley.

Clark felt that the incident - which he said came as the official booked Robinson for for dissent following the Clarets' second goal - took the gloss off a tremendous fightback by his side.

They trailed three times against second-placed Burnley to earn a valuable point with on-loan Federico Macheda scoring a last-minute equaliser, after which Clark was seen apparently kicking the advertising hoardings in celebration.

"I was furious and I lost my temper," said the Birmingham boss.

"There seemed to be a bit of an arrogance among the officials and that is not being accepted.

"There was an incident involving (Burnley striker) Danny Ings and Paul Robinson. I thought it was a foul by Ings.

"They scored from the resultant free kick. Paul remonstrated with the referee, who gave Paul a yellow card, but he mocked him about the scoreline at the time. This is totally unacceptable.

"When my captain is fighting for the club and the supporters are backing my team and when I am working as hard as I can to get the results to remain in the league, getting mocked by an official is something I am not going to accept.

"I am not questioning his performance. But he knows what he said and it is not acceptable in any walk of life.

"This was the only downside, and I have to flag it up. It is that it is not acceptable for an official to mock any player at any stage."

Clark also told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I will be wanting to take it further."

The Clarets increased their unbeaten run to seven games to stay second in the table but they failed to produce the knock-out punch.

Burnley have now failed to beat Birmingham on their last five visits to the midlands.

It appeared as if they were about to end their jinx after Dean Marney opened the scoring the first half. But Macheda equalised in the 64th minute only for Michael Duff to regain the lead for Burnley three minutes later.

But Emyr Huws crashed home a 25-yard volley in the 70th minute with Sam Vokes netting in the 86th minute only for Macheda to score a last-minute equaliser.

PA