Staunton blasts Greek tragedy

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Hunt was shown a straight red card by Vassaras for lunging in on defender Jan Polak. Czech boss Karel Bruckner described Hunt's sending-off as "not really necessary", while Staunton claimed Vassaras had been influenced by the play-acting of some Czech players.

Staunton said: "I thought it was very harsh. Stephen has won the ball and his momentum took him through. The player acted injured but was up running around when Hunty had got off the pitch."

He added: "There was a lot of play-acting and I wasn't happy with their centre-half Radoslav Kovac. The referee looked like he was only going to give him a yellow card until Kovac said something to him.

"There were a lot of decisions but what can we do about it, it's history. But I'm sure the referee's assessor will have his own report. We'll just have to wait and see what is the outcome."

Despite the influence Hunt clearly had during his brief spell on the pitch, Staunton insisted he was justified in not starting with the Reading man and instead preferring Kevin Kilbane on the left of midfield.

Staunton added: "Hunty's better performances have always been as a substitute. When he's started, they haven't been as good. He's an impact player and he has only come into the fold in the last 12 months."

To add to Staunton's woes, he revealed the man Hunt replaced, John O'Shea, may have suffered a bad injury. Staunton added: "John will go for a scan but it could be a little tear in a knee ligament."

Staunton added: "We're bitterly disappointed. I think we had enough chances to get something out of the game even with 10 men. We started badly but came into it and by the time of the sending-off we were well on top."

Czech boss Karel Bruckner sprang to the defence of Hunt and paid tribute to the Republic, insisting: "They played fair although there was this sending-off, which I do not really think was necessary."