Birmingham City manager Chris Davies felt the Blues profited from two harsh decisions by referee Andrew Kitchen during last night’s 1-1 draw in the Championship’s season opener at St Andrew’s.
Top of the list was the 95th-minute penalty converted by George Hirst after sub Lyndon Dykes, an international teammate of the Town striker with Scotland, had handled a Jacob Greaves header from an Ashley Young corner.
"I thought it was really, really harsh,” Davies said. "He’s gone up and obviously his arms are raised – you have to raise your arms to jump – and it’s scraped his fingers on the way down.
"It’s really harsh. I would be surprised if anyone doesn’t have that opinion. That’s happened now, we just have to take it.
"It’s made a huge impact on the game because we were one-nil up with a couple of minutes to go. That’s football, it can happen.”
Earlier, in the seventh minute of the first half, Japanese international striker Kyogo Furuhashi had the ball in the net but with Kitchen having already blown his whistle as the debutant had jumped into Greaves.
"Again, I thought it was harsh,” Davies added. "You only have to look at Kyogo to see the size of him compared to the centre-back. For me, that one looked harsh.
"The good news is that is what Kyogo is capable of. He was trying to make the right runs and was disciplined in his performance. I’m really happy with him.”
Despite the Blues’ late equaliser, Davies was pleased with his side’s overall display against a Town team which was two division above them last season.
"We were the better team, we dominated the match and we deserved to win the game but for misfortune with a decision,” he insisted.
"We were good with the ball, I thought we showed good patience, we pressed well and switched the play well. We had moments around the box and defensively we were really strong – I don’t think they had a shot on target until the penalty.”