Rafa Benitez believes Newcastle United have been on the receiving end of a string of refereeing errors this season - and he is banking on the officials getting the big decisions right in the six matches that will decide their promotion fate.

United were at the centre of a massive controversy when referee Keith Stroud angered the manager by wrongly disallowing a penalty scored by Matt Ritchie in their midweek win over Burton Albion.

And Benitez claimed yesterday that it was only the latest occasion when his team have been on the receiving end of a poor decision.

"I think that we haven't had been very lucky during the season," he said. "Hopefully, between now and the end, everything will be fine and we won't be talking about any bad decisions."

Stroud, who apologised for the blunder that baffled St James' Park fans on Wednesday, has been suspended for at least two matches.

Benitez remains reluctant to criticise Stroud publicly. "I said after the game that I don’t want to talk too much because everybody would be talking about it," he said.

"Now it’s even more important for me to concentrate on the next game. Six games are left, so I can’t be talking about what happened in the past."

But he admitted yesterday that he has some sympathy for officials after trying to control his own players during training sessions.

"It's not easy to be a referee, especially with the pace of the balls and the games," he said. "You have to accept that there will be mistakes sometimes.

"To be a referee is very difficult. You can talk about professionals, but when you are in the middle and have to make a decision in seconds, you can be wrong.

"I have a lot of respect for referees. I see it’s not easy when I referee five-a-side games in training sessions and the players are always complaining."

Benitez is not convinced that the introduction of time-consuming video decisions or more officials on or off the pitch is the answer.

He said: "Remember there were three referees, then four and then six with two behind the goal? They were still making mistakes.

"One good thing about football is that you can be talking about things for a week. The risk with the technology is that if you put too much in you take too much out of the game. You have to find the balance."