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

delias_cheesy_flaps added 01:38 - Sep 10 Lordy...how much longer do we have to suffer, no matter how much you love Ipswich there's no way on gods tiny earth you could dress this up as a performance. We are shocking plain and simple! MM even you can't sell a Lada as a Ferrari, I hope our fans aren't that gullible?
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Pessimistic added 02:06 - Sep 10 Town were terrible throughout and I can only blame Mick the Man for trying to sneak a point when we could easily have three with his ultra negative team selection and the fact that he would only consider bringing on our real talent from the bench when it was too late. Bad manager. Bad performance. Bad result!
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NoelTheDub added 03:25 - Sep 10 OMG your a plonker we played well that was a disgrace to any football supporter..
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clint_eastwood added 05:00 - Sep 10 Reading was awful. The game was there for the taking. Chambers was outpaced so many times by Beeren. It was a smash and grab in the 85th min and you took off Ward for Varney??? Are you kidding me, Mick??
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battyblue added 05:42 - Sep 10 The mans deluded full stop..
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christiand added 06:31 - Sep 10 Nothing has changed, style of football limited. Hoof up to pitman who is not a target man or long ball into space over the full backs - we don't have a plan b! Some poor performances from some of those town players. Knudsen's penalty decision, the ref was 100% correct, you clearly see he is grabbing his shirt. Instead of hiding behind the ref's decisions start dropping players that aren't performing. It's too comfortable for some of them. They know they can play poorly and still be selected. Finally, Ward our best player last night who actually has a bit of quality, let's take him off for VARNEY another limited player MM loves!! I just hope we're good enough to stay in this division because we are nowhere near good enough for promotion.

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yorksblue added 06:41 - Sep 10 Why do we persist with Chambers? It was embarrassing how that winger kept walking past him. Whole back 4 looked ropey. We still dominated a half but lack of quality cost us dearly. Got what we deserved.
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Umros added 07:01 - Sep 10 Usual drivel from Mick. Yep, maybe all three pens were questionable and if there were 3 there were 4 with Bishop being blocked off with intent, so this is why it's becoming frustrating on the penalty issue and we will watch the games over the weekend with inconsistency no doubt. No rub of green this year yet but hopefully our time will come but our inability to score more than one goal a game, Barnsley aside is painful and obvious. You have two new strikers talking the talk but sitting on the bench and then watching Varney coming on. Inept negative tactics and we got punished.....let's see some flair at Derby Cummon!!!!!!

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tallguy6767 added 07:12 - Sep 10 What planet is Mccarthy on! Going nowhere under this moronic dinosaur! If we ever come up against a top left winger we are going to take a right thumping! I've seen better right backs playing in the SIL. Ward must be wondering why he joined us playing under this mug !
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Brownie added 07:14 - Sep 10 Manager interviews are basically a waste of time. They say the same things every week and see things through predictable rose tinted glasses. All 3 were penalties in my view. The question re holding in the box is why wait to give one in 93 minute? Knudsen was naive but don't tell me he was the only one guilty of holding during the game. Sky were praising the ref re being brave to give late decision. Shame he wasn't brave when he only booked Evans first half - sending off all day/everyday and he was 3 yards away. Chambers was poor; Smith was worse. I thought Knudsen played well until the last minute. Ward looks a great buy.We deserved a draw but didn't do enough to win and ended up with neither. Overall not a great game & I worry re goals. Derby away/Villa home to come and things might be about to get very sticky for MM & ME..

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brittaniaman added 07:29 - Sep 10 McCarthy what ever you say about being a decent performance etc.etc. and we should not have lost like you always say afterwards in your interviews !!!! THE POINT IS WE LOST !!! So now you have got to get Plan B in action for Tuesday and do not depend on Last seasons Team and Favourites ??? Use some of your new subs for goodness sake!!!
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cooper442 added 07:31 - Sep 10 What a load of old rubbish ,it's not even worth reading through it ..
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Keaneish added 07:44 - Sep 10 More to the point Mick, why was our tiny little full back marking their massive centre half for a corner??? Tactically inept...again. No question it was a penalty.
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hairbear added 07:49 - Sep 10 Thought we played ok. Defended generally well. Chambers got toasted first half but the Dutch fella didn't get a kick 2nd half and ended switching flanks. Our problem is not scoring enough goals. Sears looks woefully short of confidence so I was surprised Lawrence &or Best didn't get on.
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ChrisFelix added 07:52 - Sep 10 Unfortunately as soon as I saw the team I knew the out come. I agree with all the comments posted, Chambers not a full back, Douglas & Skues plus Bru never going to get us out of this division. Other than Bishop bad substitutions, not helped by our equaliser so early in the 2nd half . Felt that McCarthy considered a draw was a good result after 50 mins
3

marco007 added 08:07 - Sep 10 "I think we played really well today" No wonder attendances are hugely down at Portman Road! When the team was announced, Grant Ward aside, there is not a player I would pay to watch. Centre backs that lump the ball, full backs that cannot defend, long throws from Jonas that are repeated hundreds of times through the season without creatining anything, holding CDM,s that pass sideways, and wingers that are stifled and encouraged more to defend that attack. I feel so sorry for Freddy as he works so hard but needs to be freed up ass he cannot be happy playing as a left wing. My only consolidation is that our bench looks exciting but we seem to have too many similar players who will struggle for game time. Entertained?? Nope, just bloody bored with this same old rubbish People may disagree but I would LOVE to see Neil Warnock manage this team and bring back some entertainment and get the most out of our players

14

jas0999 added 08:18 - Sep 10 No question about the last penalty. Clear cut. The other two were penalties, but have seen them not given. As for MMs comments. Oh dear. That was as poor a game I have seen on TV for a long while. Both teams dreadful. We went for a point, but because we were down at half time had to push forward. I wonder if we would have done that if it was still goalless? We are so boring. The bottom line is we simply aren't good enough and the failure to sign a replacement for Murphy - a strong, bustling striker who works hard but worries defences, could prove costly. January is a long way away.

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Tractorboy1985 added 08:42 - Sep 10 He's absolutely pi$$ed if he thought that was a good performance!
7

coolcat added 08:43 - Sep 10 Agree sixtouchfootball. Pitman could have done with more support up front. I was at the match and think overall we played quite well. We were definitely the better team second half and deserved at the very least a point. More of a concern, penalties aside, there weren't any goals forthcoming from our midfield. Onto the next one and hopefully a good result.
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brian_a_mul added 08:53 - Sep 10 MM got his tactics right, we played a high pressing game and put them in all kinds of bother. Al habsi was the busier keeper, Ward and pits had good chances, Berra and Smith should of done a lot better with glorious chances. We passed ball a lot better and two decisions went against us. Evans challenge was terrible. Good away performance and deserve a t least a point, 3 on another day with more luck.

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MadDog added 09:12 - Sep 10 I hate to say it but the only questionable penalty was ours! The one we didn't get for elbow on Bishop was more of a penalty. As for Knudsen he is clueless! Ref was never going to let that go after just booking Berra! We were awful-why sign/bring in loan players & not play them? If not better than what we have then why sign them?? This is going to be a long season & more a case of avoiding relegation than going for playoffs! Need to find someone who wants to buy the club with some ambition or just get used to always being a mid table championship side. Sad times!

5

SohoBlue added 09:18 - Sep 10 The Evans challenge was diabolical and is the sort of dangerous season-ending, career changing idiocy that should be reviewed after the game and punished. A yellow card was a joke. Surely it's also better to get strong, fresh, hungry, ball players like best and Lawrence on towards the end. That is a point dropped, probably three. But we'll beat Derby now. This division is 'bonkers'. COYB

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leahcar88 added 09:18 - Sep 10 Varney was clearly brought on for defensive abilities in the air in a period of a game where it would long balls could be thrown in corners etc High pressing is a good way to go about defending these possession based teams Think the high pressing helped us get to the play offs season before last
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Miles added 09:23 - Sep 10 Unlike the majority I'm actually a huge Mick fan but he's wrong on this occasion. They were all clear penalties in my eyes. Wardy gets unfortunate but it's right by the ref and he's always going to give it. Pitman gets a shove in the back while in the air which is why he went flying and again it's a foul. Jonas at the end, well it's just idiotic considering they were warned at length moments before. One thing we have to realise is Reading are playing a possession game and we did a very good job of pressuring them and stopping them being fluid and tearing us apart. Didn't look as pretty but very good set up by the coaching staff. Hopefully we'll learn from this as I had a feeling sooner or later we would be punished for handling in the area. Did assume it would be Berra who conceded it though!

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couldbebetter added 09:41 - Sep 10 We have a cretin as a manager.All 3 were penalties .Chambers should have been sent off for a second bookable foul.Knudsen had his arms round the waist of the Reading player and looking in the opposite direction to the corner.How is that not a foul ?
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