Aston Villa manger John Gregory blasted Oxford referee Rob Harris over his sending-off of Liverpool defender Steve Staunton in a controversial goalless FA Carling Premiership draw at Villa Park.

Gregory continued his crusade against officials following last week's scathing attack on Jeff Winter and fourth official Andy D'Urso at Leicester. Staunton was dismissed after half an hour for a second bookable offence when it was alleged that he had encroached at a free-kick from Villa midfielder Alan Thompson.

But the former Villa defender, who had been constantly booed before his early bath, found a strong ally in Gregory. The Villa chief said ``I wasn't very happy with the sending-off last week of Gareth Southgate. This week things have worked to our advantage with a red card for Staunton - but I have to be honest and say I don't believe it was right what the referee did.

``It was in fact an outrageous decision. The first booking was only for a 50/50 challenge. The thought is that things do get punished when the over the top tackles are being missed. ``As for the second booking, I don't think that it was a free-kick in the first place for us and I don't even think that Staunton encroached. I have a lot of sympathy for him.

``Today 11 players were booked but there was hardly a bad challenge throughout the 90 minutes and I do fear for the game if things are going to carry on like this. ``Maybe it is an edict from above to referees that is causing it and spectators are oozing out with all these red cards because they don't see 11 versus 11.''

Villa struggled to make their numerical advantage count as creativity was again lacking in the centre of the park. Gregory said: ``I was pleased with the performance up to a point but we did not produce enough in the final third of the pitch to win the game''.