Town midfielder Jonathan Douglas is in favour of modern technology being introduced at Championship level after he appeared to have a legitimate goal disallowed in the 1-1 draw against Norwich at Portman Road on Sunday.

Douglas had the ball in the net inside the first two minutes of the latest East Anglian derby, only for a referee’s assistant to raise his flag for offside. Television replays immediately suggested the official had got it wrong.

Douglas, 34, said: “To be honest, at the time I thought I was offside so I didn’t really appeal for anything. But after the game I got a picture on my phone from my sister that she had taken off the television and I was a bit gutted.

“It would have been the ideal start for us and I suppose the use of technology is something that we’ve got to look at.

“But I also think it’s about the officials doing their job right. That’s two decisions in our last couple of games that have gone against us and cost us two goals.

“I know it’s tough for them and it wouldn’t take long to review the incident using the modern technology — maybe about five seconds — so people should start looking into doing something like that, especially in the big games.

“There’s a lot of pressure involved but a goal in the second minute would have been a great start for us.

“They say the bad luck evens itself out over the course of a season so I’m looking forward to that happening. It was a pity about the disallowed goal but overall we played well.

“It was a good game to be involved in, probably as good as any I’ve been involved in since I joined the club last year.

“I think we played really well. It was two good teams that were going at each other. Norwich didn’t come to sit back — they attacked as well — so it was a good open game and one that I was happy to be involved in.

“But it’s behind us and now it’s Preston on Saturday. It will be another tough game but we’re looking forward to it.”

Douglas is not concerned that Town’s display against the Canaries has set the standard and that supporters will want more of the same served up over the remaining 42 league fixtures of the season.

He added: “The fans might expect it but I think that’s what we expect as well. We played well away at Wolves in our previous game so we had a lot of confidence going into the Norwich game. We outplayed Wolves and were unlucky not to get three points there.

“Hopefully we can continue the momentum going into Saturday’s game and get all three points then have a few days off during the international break and come back raring to go.

“I think it’s very important that we build on the draws at Wolves and at home against Norwich by taking all three points from Preston, especially with the international break coming up because it will be a long time to wait if we don’t.

“Last season we did pretty well going into the international breaks but Preston will be tough to beat. If we go into the game with the same attitude that we did on Sunday I’m hopeful we will get the three points.”

Photos: TWTD/Action Images

Radlett_blue added 08:46 - Aug 26 Douglas put the ball in the net rather half-heartedly & clearly thought he was offside; don't know if that influenced the linesman. Although the replay showed he was marginally on-side, please don't start using replays as then almost every decision will be disputed & reviewed.
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Ferguson added 09:51 - Aug 26 When the technology exists to help referees in the championship make a decision it should be used whenever it's practical to do so to help clarify decisions over goals. Alternatively, allow each manager up to 3 appeals per match in these circumstances
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BackTheBlues added 10:05 - Aug 26 Technology should be used when play is stopped - therefore not interrupting the flow of the game. Here it would of been perfect - either a goal was given or offside - either way play was stopped - 5 seconds to review would have been fine! Sky can review it in that time and I'm sure officials can! The issue with this goal is that the linesman could not see the Narwich player across the far side blocked by Douglas! As last week with Freddie! Not good enough for me these decisions!

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grantchester added 12:25 - Aug 26 Completely agree with Ferg. I can see why people are still against the idea as it's likely to cause a stop/start momentum to the game. By allocating managers with a certain number of challenges it would reduce that effect and provide a fairer outcome to the game as a whole. Calls can be made when the ball is dead and therefore allowing play to continue, should referees use advantages in other situations...

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26_Paz added 12:56 - Aug 26 Would an extra official behind the goal like in the Champions League have made a difference here? Or a radical one, how about a linesman on both sides?
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Europablue added 13:11 - Aug 26 How about a linesman that is actually good at their job.
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Ferguson added 13:35 - Aug 26 26 Paz. Good point. I've noticed over the years, as the general athleticism and pace of players increases, how hard it is for some officials who may well be great at other aspects of the job to physically to keep up with play. And bad decisions DON'T always even out. We'd have beaten the Hammers and got to Wembley in '75 if there'd been a way to overrule Referee Clive Thomas' (2?) offside decisions against Bryan Hamilton in the FA Cup semi...... Still hurts does that.

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