SAM Allardyce fanned the flames of controversy over Steve Bennett's handling of Saturday's FA Cup defeat by Arsenal by claiming the Kent official may have been "too tired" to take charge of the game.

The Wanderers' boss, desperately disappointed after losing the Reebok quarter-final 1-0, revealed how he had watched Bennett referee the Monaco PSV Eindhoven Champions League tie just three days earlier and questioned whether officials should be given two high-profile games so close together.

Bennett reduced Wanderers to 10 men after just eight minutes on Saturday when he sent off El-Hadji Diouf for lashing out at Arsenal keeper, Jens Lehmann, after consulting his assistant. The two officials had earlier ignored Dennis Bergkamp's challenge on Tal Ben Haim in the build up to Freddie Ljungberg scoring the third minute goal that sent Arsenal through.

Allardyce said tiredness could have been a factor in the referee's performance.

"It was a good eye-opener for me to watch Steve referee on Wednesday night in Monaco then almost immediately come back here and have to referee a game that was so crucial to both teams," he said.

"I would point the finger at fatigue because I wouldn't put a player out there who was fatigued if I had a fresh player, so I'd question that a little. Another referee would have been fresher.

"There has to be a huge fatigue factor after Steve's journey to Monaco on Tuesday, handling a hugely difficult game on Wednesday night, getting up Thursday, flying all the way back, getting up Friday, travelling all the way up here, getting up Saturday morning and refereeing at 15 minutes past 12.

"There's no question about that, and that might have been one of the reasons why he didn't quite get one or two decisions right, that he might have done."

Allardyce knows he is unlikely to convince the referee to reconsider the red card against Diouf - the fourth Bolton player to be sent off in games against Arsenal over the last four seasons - but he accused Lehmann of intimidating the Senegal striker and of over-reacting when he was caught in the face.

He claims the referee's assistant was too far away to see whether Diouf's hand made contact with Lehmann's face - having failed to see Bergkamp's earlier foul on Ben Haim that paved the way for Ljungberg to score the winning goal.

But he said Wanderers only had themselves to blame for failing to take advantage of an Arsenal team he believed was "there for the taking" after suffering the mental and physical effects of being eliminated from the Champions League three days earlier.

Ignoring his concerns over the attendance - almost 5,000 short of the full house he had hoped for - he said: "I'm more disappointed in the result and how we've gone about the game - losing it under our own steam.

"It's our fault that we lost it, more than anybody else's. We've only really got ourselves to blame - as gallant an effort as the other 10 played to try to get us back in the game, we really had to stick to 11, particularly after going 1-0 down, and try to capitalise on Arsenal in terms of how they are at the moment.

"Certainly the 10 men made a great game of it but 11 would have been a lot better and might have got an awful lot more out of it."

In addition to Diouf's red card, which lands him with an automatic three-match ban, Wanderers had Nicky Hunt, Stelios, Kevin Nolan, Radhi Jaidi and Kevin Davies booked in a game of nine yellow cards.

Allardyce chastised Davies for making a string of rash challenges but said he understood the combative striker's frustration after Kolo Toure got away with a clear foul on him in the in the lead up to Diouf's dismissal.

"That always happens with Kevin and he showed his frustration at the referee not protecting him enough by making some tackles he shouldn't have made," the manager added.

"Kevin sees an awful lot going on and sees all the Arsenal players getting the free kicks for falling all over the place - not just Arsenal but most teams - while he tries to stay on his feet when he gets fouled.

"I have to say we let ourselves down in the end, unfortunately, but the players overall, from 10 men on, were absolutely magnificent.

"Arsenal were ready for the taking and, had we had 11 on there, we probably had the best chance of taking then than we've had for a long time - more of a chance even than when we beat them a few weeks ago because they were drained, they were fatigued and they were down.

"Even the 10 men took full advantage of that for a long period. Although a lot of the game was about us playing with 10, it looked like we were still playing with 11.

"But, unfortunately, at the top end, you have to take your chances when they come along - especially with 10 men - and we didn't hit the target enough and make Lehmann make the saves or make the mistakes he might have done."