Boss Jim Magilton felt that his side were the victims of a poor linesman's performance at Bramall Lane on Tuesday.

The Town manager thought the decision for an apparent foul by Liam Trotter on Nick Montgomery owed much to an earlier incident involving Dan Harding and Keith Gillespie: “I think Keith knew he wasn't going to get the ball and was looking for the challenge.

"They wanted a penalty but I don't think it was foul. The young assistant looked nervous by the furore over the decision and, in my opinion, that weighed on his mind for the second incident, which ended in a penalty.

"There looked minimal contact at the most and I thought it was a shocking decision to be honest and it proved pivotal in the game.

"These things change the course of games, it gives the crowd a lift and then Keith goes and scores a wonderful goal. But at 1-1 we were very much in the game and these decisions turn games.

"After our goal, I thought we would go on and win the game. We deserved to be level at the time and I was very pleased with our first half display.”

Magilton was happy with Liam Trotter's first senior start: "Liam Trotter did very well and can be happy with his performance. We controlled possession for periods, certainly in the first half, and their first goal came against the run of play.

"I'm not going to use tiredness as an excuse. We freshened things up and the lads that came in did OK, but the penalty changed the game."

Sheffield United manager Bryan Robson thought his side had the better of it after Town's strong start: "We started a bit slowly, Ipswich had some good possession but once the lads got a grip of what we were trying to achieve - hit Beattie and Webber working off him - then I thought we came into the game really well.

"We were unfortunate not to get a second goal which takes the nervousness away from you. When Ipswich equalised it would be easy to make that as an excuse but the lads didn't do that, they showed good character and went on to deservedly win the game."

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