Ipswich Town stand-in skipper Dara O’Shea felt Joao Pedro was lucky to not be sent off after what he saw as a ‘reckless’ challenge on keeper Christian Walton in the Blues’ 2-0 home defeat to Brighton.
The incident which left the former Brighton shot-stopper requiring a medical assessment for concussion before he continued came in the 54th minute with the sides locked at 0-0 with the Blues having had the better of the chances up to that point.
Referee Tony Harrington deemed the challenge, which came as the Brazilian two-capped forward charged down a backpass, jumping into Walton, as punishable with a yellow card with the home crowd clearly feeling it warranted more. VAR checked the incident but agreed with the man in the middle.
But Republic of Ireland international O’Shea said: "I thought it was reckless. I think he knows he’s not getting the ball and he’s just leaving one on him.
"With it being a keeper, he needs to be protected. He’s waiting for him to come and he’s just lining him up and he's taking him out and it’s a cheap one.
"I don't know. You said the VAR looked at it so they’ve obviously done their job, supposedly, so if they don’t think it is, then I’m sure they made the right decision.”
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The incident came five minutes before Brighton got themselves in front via Kaoru Mitoma’s 59th minute sweeping finish under Walton and the Seagulls never looked back from that point.
Substitute Georginio Rutter eventually doubled their lead in the 82nd minute when the former Leeds player squeezed a shot on the turn in at the near post following a free-kick, to seal a result which saw Town drop back into the Premier League’s bottom three courtesy of scoring fewer goals than Wolves.
O’Shea, who took over Sam Morsy’s captain’s armband for the second time this season, the first away to Arsenal just after Christmas, felt the Blues were not far away from getting a positive result but believes they need to be braver going forward to get their rewards.
He said: "Not the result we wanted. I thought the game could have went either way today, it was quite 50-50.
"I think whoever scored the first goal today was going to win the game and that was it. I think that was the way the game was.
"The goal they scored was really unfortunate for us and then the second goal a bit the same.
"It’s disappointing for ourselves, but I think in the game there's lots of positives we can take from it.
"We showed a good account of ourselves, played some really good football at times. I think maybe the main message is to be a bit braver at times and go for it and see where that gets us.”
Town now have a quick turnaround ahead of champions Manchester City, who find themselves sixth in the Premier League table after Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at Brentford following back-to-back wins, visiting Portman Road on Sunday (4.30pm, Sky Sports).
But O’Shea and his team-mates will not be getting caught in the trap of being in awe of their opponents as they look to bounce back with a victory.
"It’s a privilege to have a team like them come and play against us,” he said. "It’s a great opportunity for us to show who we are. It’s a game where we're going in to look at the point of a good performance and get three points. It’s the main thing.
"We’re not just setting up to get a draw or to have a respectable scoreline. We need to go out there and try to win the game and get points on the board ourselves.”