Town boss Mick McCarthy felt all three penalties were questionable during the Blues’ 2-1 defeat at Reading, the third of the three spotkicks having come deep in injury time to condemn his side to what he believed was an undeserved defeat.

Asked whether he had spoken to referee Jeremy Simpson about the third penalty, which was netted by Danny Williams after Joey van den Berg had gone to ground under the attention of Jonas Knudsen, he said: “I’m not going to.”

Pressed on his interpretation of the decision, he added: “I’m not going to speak about it because if I do I’ll only get myself in trouble because it’s best that I leave it alone.”

Was he more aggrieved by the first or second penalty? “I have to say, I think all three. I wouldn’t imagine Jaap was too pleased with the one they’ve given away. I think all of them.

“The guy’s run into Jonas, they are grappling but the pair of them are doing it. We’ve all had the warnings, he’s booked somebody in the box and he could have done it in either box on a number of occasions. He chose to do it in the 90-whatever minute it was.”

Did he feel the decision wasn’t too much a surprise given what had happened immediately beforehand? “They were shouting for it every time and I think he’s just tried to run into Jonas and I don’t know what you do if somebody runs into you.

“Well, I do, you try and stand your ground, of course. Not really a surprise, no. A huge disappointment, but not really a surprise.”

Clubs have been warned by the PGMOL, the referees’ association, that grappling at corners will be punished.

Asked how he feels about that as a central defender during his playing days, McCarthy said: “I wonder whatever happened about just standing your ground and going and heading the ball out. That was my modus operandi generally, just go and head the bleeding thing, not having to stop them running around and blocking people.

“But it happens in both boxes and, of course, the rule will affect some of us on some days and I’m sure we’ll get one.

“Well, I hope we do because we’ve had two goals disallowed that were goals at Wolves and against Norwich, we’ve had two penalties given against us today, so things are going particularly well with me and the PGMOL.”

He added: “What happens if he’d have given it the other way and he’d said he was barging into Jonas, I wonder what would have happened then. That is the real crux of it, you can give it either way.

“I’m told that there was a bad tackle by George Evans [on Grant Ward]. Somebody’s just said it should have been a red card, which I haven’t seen. I’ll have a look at that when we watch it and I can have a whinge about that as well, there’s something else.

“I’ve come in here talking about that and I think we played really well today, the second half was a really good performance. In the second half I thought we were the better team.

“I would actually prefer never, ever to talk about referees [in post-match press conferences]. I show them a huge respect by going into see them before the game, not many managers do, they send the assistant in or the physio. I’d like a bit of that back at some stage during the season.”

McCarthy rushed off down the tunnel after the final whistle but says he returned to complete his customary round of handshakes.

“I wanted to go and see the decision,” he said. “I came back and shook everybody’s hand.

“I don’t blank people. I had to apologise to Reidy [Reading coach Steven Reid] because I think he stuck his hand out as I was marching down the tunnel, but I came back and shook his hand and everybody else’s.”

Going back to his side’s performance, McCarthy was pleased with the second half display when they had more of the ball, although not unhappy with his team before the break when they limited the home side to few chances, despite the Royals dominating possession.

“That’s the way they play, it’s possession-based football,” he reflected. “They’ve probably come in here and said they deserved to win it because they had 500 or 600 passes, but I don’t think that’s the case.

“I think we were the better team in the second half and I think it was us that looked like winning it. And unfortunately one of our results has been based, again, on a referee’s decision.”

Reading manager Jaap Stam said: “I think in the first half we were the better team in how we played and the chances that we created. I think we could have scored a couple in the first half.

“In the second half, I think they started off better than in the first half in the sense that they were pressuring us quite high, there wasn’t enough space for us to play or to pass the ball through.”

Regarding the three penalty decisions, he added: “The first one, I think you can give it because it is a handball.

"He’s not deliberately going towards the ball with his hand but if the ball passes that player maybe it gets to a player from us within the box and maybe he can score, so that’s why probably he made the decision to give it.

“I think the second one, their equaliser, wasn’t a penalty at all. But because of maybe the situation of how everything went and the comments towards the referee he made the decision to give it.

“I think our second penalty was a penalty because they just held Joey and that’s why he went down.”

Photo: Action Images

cromwellblue added 23:20 - Sep 9 Played well??? Go help us when you think we played badly
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cromwellblue added 23:22 - Sep 9 God, that is
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Mr_Evans added 23:22 - Sep 9 No MM, your team selection and subs were awful! Please explain what Varney brings to the table? I've never seen they guy make two consecutive touches. If you want a player to keep the ball and stick it to his feet, you may as well have left Ward in the pitch! Her atleast run it into the corners. Reading were there for the taking but MM wanted to settle for a point. At times we actually played the ball well, yet it's so fustrating to see Chambers hump it up field at any given opportunity. He was torn to shreds at times and was so slow to get out to his man to stop crosses. Smith also gifted them chances and to shin off his correct foot when yards from goal is so so poor. We conceeded more goals than any other team in the top half of the table last season, yet we still have the same back 4. None of our back 4 would command a starting place in any of the top 6 sides of the EFL.

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JimmyJazz added 23:22 - Sep 9 Knudsen was playing rugby on their last penalty and it was obvious the ref was going to give something if there was more holding - utter brainless defending. But that is what Berra does every game and like Italian defenders seems to know just how far he can get away with it, but he sets a bad example to someone like Knudsen.
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RoyalAscotBlue added 23:23 - Sep 9 I would love to think that we were working towards something like the following team... Bart Emmanuel Webster Berra Kenlock Ward Skuse Williams Grant Didz Best Subs Gerken, Smith, Chambers, Bishop, Lawrence, Sears, Pitman I do not believe that we will ever see a line up like this under MM's leadership though.
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warwickblue added 23:23 - Sep 9 Sorry Mick -and I know you won't give a flying f*** anyway, but I cannot agree with one single word of your post-match comments. That was simply awful.
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Jimmy86 added 23:24 - Sep 9 Mick, the ref hasn't cost us... he booked Berra and the Dutch lad for the same thing and earned them at length. Knudsen was then extremely naive to then grapple with the same player. It gives the ref the choice of giving a penalty. Also doesn't take away from the fact we weren't clinical enough to beat a poor Reading side, who looked shakey and there for the taking
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jcITFC added 23:24 - Sep 9 Have a day off MM..knudsen was all over him. If he was 'looking for it' Knudsen shouldn't have given the ref any reason to give it
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Jimmy86 added 23:25 - Sep 9 *warned them at length
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lightingblue added 23:26 - Sep 9 I'm sorry mick but I feel I have to disagree to an extent. Jonas was not even looking at the ball and maybe a career as a wwe wrestler any be best suited. He was all over the forward, maybe the forward was looking for it but unfortunately that's the way games are won, and in regards to readings first. As a kid I was always told to keep your hands down in the box. These are pro footballers who should ultimately know better

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sixtouchfootball added 23:26 - Sep 9 Reading have been set up to play continental possession football akin to ajax/barca which is what stam wants to do. We closed them down and pressed them quite well and we are clearly trying to play a different way. Most teams will adopt our tactics when playing this lot and as the prematch talk said, in the top 2 divisions only man city have had more possession.a draw would of been fair and dont forget smith missed a sitter but cant be too harsh as he's a centre half. Would have liked to have seen mkre support for pitman but hey ho. Disappointed but mainly with most of the decisions.

3

StochesStotasBlewe added 23:27 - Sep 9 How about taking responsibility for your team selection, tactical ineptitude & totally mind boggling substitutions.
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TheSelkirk added 23:27 - Sep 9 Ever been so frustrated that you skipped anger and went straight to laughing like a lunatic?
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Jonnosdreadlocks added 23:29 - Sep 9 good grief what game was he watching? all 3 were pens. stop making excuses for your dinosaur, kick and rush tactics.
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rhubard added 23:32 - Sep 9 All the reffs fault...bla bla bla, yawn yawn yawn zzz zzz zzz
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Michael11 added 23:33 - Sep 9 You played for nothing more than a point and got stung. Stop being stubborn and take responsibility for once!
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budgieplucker added 23:33 - Sep 9 The first two penalties were indeed very questionable. The third enormously predictable. Sorry Mick, the action reply shows the complete ignorance of Knudsen, I can't hide my anger regarding the complete stupidity, neither should you. I suggest you watch the action replay carefully. Two shots from Skuse, comments from the Sky commentator something like that's only why he has scored one goal in four years!!! Ward and Pitman my pick of the team, other than Bart everyone else whilst working hard hardly could put two to three passes together. That kit very drab, despite new shorts I can see why we didn't wear it much last year, at least with the orange you could easily spot and pick out a lot easier the other town players.

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TimmyH added 23:36 - Sep 9 Knudsen incident in injury time was a penalty and a ridiculously stupid one on his part but I agree with Mick on the other two both questionable. Also questionable is that Mick thought 'we played really well today' - God help us when we don't if that's the benchmark of playing well this club has well and truly gone down the drain. I actually feel other than the Norwich game our TV performances are getting worse no matter what the result, each game seems so sterile and I largely put that down to Micks style of management. I'll say it again we were better in the first few months or so of Mick's reign after the chaos inflicted by Keane and PJ than what we are now.

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CambridgeBlue added 23:36 - Sep 9 I thought we played OK and contained them well away from home. Some positives, especially second half, but that was utterly brainless defending from Knudsen, blatant penalty. Referee did not have a good game overall however. Disappointing that we weren't a bit more threatening throughout the game, thought a draw a bit more fair though.
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Tractorboy1985 added 23:57 - Sep 9 That was absolutely diabolical!! A point away from home a good result yes but reading were there for the taking!! A positive change (2 up top) I'm convinced we would have won the game! Pitman will score goals if given the service! Sears needs to be taken out (so low on confidence and playing out of position) that was painful to watch and clearly we were happy with a point! Fair enough away from home but when I saw readings line up I thought we were more than capable of beating them.. V disappointed.. Poor tactics for me! Game was there to be won but we were happy with a point! Another tough game Tuesday and I hope changes will be made!!

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carsey added 00:24 - Sep 10 So glad I couldn't get to watch it sounds like nothing has changed and we are facing another season of McCarthy dross and ineptitude.
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Europablue added 00:41 - Sep 10 That was quite funny from Stam. The first penalty (for Reading) was a penalty, the second (Ipswich) wasn't, and the third one (Reading) was. Nice to see some consistency there.
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GiveusaWave added 00:43 - Sep 10 I thought Knudsen had a reasonably good game (when compared to Smith and Chambers) up until the penalty. It might have been due to a bit of frustration on his part. I know we have been saying this for three years now, but the right back position is an issue. Opposition teams do target Chambers and the strategy does seem to work. Smith's concentration is also an issue.

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Knightsy added 01:21 - Sep 10 What a Fool MM is, Knudsen had his arms around the blokes waist and also holding onto his shirt. It's was foolish foul. It wasn't a good performance, what planet is this bloke on.
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rinkydinkpanther added 01:33 - Sep 10 On the plus side, at least Sears kept another clean sheet.
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