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London - Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has been fined £8 000 by the English Football Association after criticising the match officials following his team's 2-1 defeat at Chelsea last month.
Lambert was furious after Branislav Ivanovic was only booked by referee Kevin Friend for a foul on Christian Benteke in the Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge.
Ivanovic went on to score Chelsea's late winner and, adding to Lambert's frustration, Villa also had a clear penalty appeal rejected for a handball by John Terry.
The Scot argued with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho in the technical area following the incident and told the media afterwards: "We've been done by two decisions that were wrong.
"Decisions like that, I don't think you can miss them, I really don't. They're big game-changers. My team never deserved that."
But the FA on Friday slapped Lambert with the fine and said in a statement: "Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing, Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has been fined £8 000 in relation to post-match media comments he made after his side's game against Chelsea on 21 August 2013.
"The misconduct charge, which Lambert admitted, was that the comments implied the match referee was motivated by bias; and/or brought the game into disrepute, in contravention of FA Rule E3 (1)."
