Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has accepted the referee's decision to send off Fabricio Coloccini in his side's 1-1 draw with Liverpool.

Coloccini was dismissed for a late challenge on Luis Suarez with less than 10 minutes on the clock, a decision Pardew questioned referee Anthony Taylor about at the final whistle.

Pardew was keen to avoid undue attention being paid to officials following recent events and accepted the decision, despite not agreeing with it.

"I thought he (Taylor) maybe got caught up in the emotion and I wanted to ask him before he'd had a chance to see replays," Pardew told Sky Sports News.

"He said he thought it was serious foul play. The morale of referees must be really low at the moment, because of constant criticism and the issues around them. We accept his decision and I thought he had a good day.

"I don't think there was any intent but we accept it."

The result leaves Newcastle 10th in the Premier League table, while opponents Liverpool are three points behind in 12th.