Newcastle boss Alan Pardew has slammed referee Phil Dowd for his performance in the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool, reports Sky Sports.

The Magpies had led 1-0 at Anfield following a Martin Skrtel own goal, before quickfire goals from Daniel Agger and Daniel Sturridge turned the game in the Reds favour.

Newcastle found themselves reduced to nine men, with Dowd showing Shola Ameobi two yellow cards in quick succession for dissent, before sending off Paul Dummett for a challenge on Luis Suarez.

"I know Shola. He doesn't swear. I told the ref he doesn't swear so how angry can he possibly get," said Pardew

"I don't actually know how angry you can get. He said: 'If you carry on I am going to send you off'.

"Whether it was sarcastically I don't know but Shola said: 'You are going to send me off!' And he did.

"That's sort of explanation that Phil gave me. So I think he should have managed that far better than that.

"It was shame. Liverpool then got two goals but with 10 men it was always going to be difficult."

Pardew felt his side deserved more from their performance, and insisted Dowd had a big influence on the outcome.

I thought our season in terms of performance was strong," added Pardew.

"We had a good game plan. Perhaps we were slightly unfortunate not to get the second goal when Gouff (Yoan Gouffran) was one on one.

"The ref played a part in my view in the second half.

"He should have managed the game a lot better than he did. And we conceded two goals.

"He had a part in the first one by Vurnon (Anita). Then there was a foul from Agger on Shola.

"Liverpool have had a fantastic season and they showed their quality. If you give too many set plays away it will hurt you.

"Unfortunately we didn't quite do as well as we should have."