Blues boss Paul Lambert was left fuming by referee Keith Stroud awarding Aston Villa a highly contentious penalty at one end and denying Town what looked a strong case for a spot-kick at the other as his side were beaten 2-1 at Aston Villa.

Stroud harshly decided that McGinn was fouled by Judge for the penalty which led to Villa striker Tammy Abraham’s second goal, then waved away protests after Tommy Elphick stopped Collin Quaner’s goalbound effort with his hand.

“I thought we were really good,” Lambert said. “They scored the first goal, then after that we started to get ourselves bedded into the game. In the second half I thought we played really well.

“But the two decisions I thought were really poor. That was never a penalty for Villa and it was certainly a penalty for us.

“It was a blatant handball, I’ve seen it. It wouldn’t have looked out of place in the NBA! Jesus Christ, it’s handball! It’s an unbelievable decision. And the linesman’s standing there. It’s blatant.

“And if that’s a penalty at the other end, we’d be getting penalties every single week. That was incredible, an absolutely incredible decision that he gave. But some of the decisions were strange.

“I used to play the game. Judge rolls it, no problem. The boy goes down, it’s not the boy’s fault, he plays the game the way he wants, the referee should have seen it. That’s my gripe on it. Two big, big moments that he’s missed.”

Asked whether he feels luck is currently against the Blues, with a similar handball decision having been denied them at Blackburn last week, Lambert responded: “You create your luck, you’re just looking for things to go your way. But those two decisions were incredible, absolutely incredible.

“Then we hit the post when we were on top in the game, I couldn’t ask any more from my own team, I was proud of them the way they played.”

Reflecting on Villa and Abraham’s first goal, he added: "The first one, it’s a poor goal by us.

“But my own team came here and gave them a game, that’s why I’m disappointed because [the referee]’s missed the two big moments.”

Quizzed on whether he feels more hard done by than at any previous point in the season, he said: “There have been one or two little things. I had a meeting with a referee not long ago, after the Millwall game, and I’m still waiting for the report because they said they were going to look at it.

“I wasn’t happy with that one. But that one there, he’d given one penalty and he never gave the other.

“I’m just about to go and see the referee. What am I going to say to him? I can’t tell you, can I? I’m not going to lose any money, I’ve done that enough.

“But I’m not having that, I want to hear the explanation because it’s wrong what happened there.”

He added: “I’m not going start blaming referees, referees don’t want to lose you games. But the thing is those two decisions went against us, without a doubt.

"And we were in the ascendency at that moment, the crowd were going against them and I couldn’t ask any more from my own team.”

Reflecting on his time with the Blues to reporters he knew well from his days as Villa boss, he continued: “We’ve been excellent, we’ve been really good football-wise. The Rotherham game in the second half we never performed but we got the result, the Blackburn game I don’t think we deserved it, but every other game we’ve been well in it.

“We don’t look like a team at the bottom of the table, that’s for sure. There’s a really good spirit, the crowd have been brilliant since I’ve been at the club, it’s a great club to be at, I really, really enjoy it and I can’t ask any more than the way we’re playing.”

What needs to happen for things to turn around? “We just need to keep going the way we’re going and take our chances when they come.

“We need that little bit of luck, every team does, every player needs a bit of luck but performances-wise, I’ve only been here just over two months or so, I’m really proud to manage them and I love watching us play at times, I really do, I love watching us.”

Regarding his January additions, he said: “A lot of them haven’t played a lot of games, I think Quaner had only played a maximum of 40 minutes in about six months or something. He came on and looked great.

“The same with Will Keane, Alan Judge, James Collins, you can go through them all, game-time was really, really low. But what I can’t question is their attitude and desire, they’ve been excellent.

“As I’ve said before, you judge it by the crowd’s reaction, the crowd saw it themselves. If we keep this feeling and we keep doing what we’re doing, there are a helluva lot of points to play for and we’re well in the fight.”

Lambert has said previously that the six signings will need games to get nearer to full fitness but having faded badly against Rotherham and Blackburn in the second half, the Blues were stronger later on in the match today.

“That’s what can happen, the adrenalin can get you through games, the lads haven’t played a lot of games,” he added.

“That only comes through training and fitness levels, but the way we played today, I can’t ask any more.”

The Blues manager confirmed that the decision to recall Bartosz Bialkowski in goal was purely tactical with Dean Gerken, who dropped to the bench, not having picked up a knock.

“No, I just changed it,” he said. “Deano’s been doing brilliant for us, but if anything happens to Deano I need two goalkeepers that are fully fit. I just decided to change it. And Bart never had too much to do but made a brilliant save at the death.”

Villa manager Dean Smith took a contrary view on the penalty decisions.

“I’ve not seen them back, but t the time I thought it was a penalty, I thought Judge grabbed John McGinn round the neck," he said.

“Let’s be honest, the referee was four yards away so I think he’s going to have a better idea than any of us in the dugouts.

“And for the other one, I just thought Tommy slid in and between him and Chessy they stopped the ball from going into the back of the net, I couldn’t see anything wrong in that either.”

Regarding the victory, he added: “We could have won five or six-nil or two-one today, it didn’t matter, it was about getting a result and getting the win at home, which I thought we thoroughly deserved.

“It was comfortable until Freddie Sears stuck one in the top corner then we had a four or five-minute spell of a little bit of panic and trying to get over the line but then in the last five minutes I thought we sorted that out really well.

“I’m disappointed it wasn’t as emphatic as it should have been, Tammy should be walking away with his 20th and 21st goals today and John McGinn should also be walking away with two or three today with the chances that he’s had.

“So we’ve had number of chances today and if we were more clinical we would have made the game a lot more comfortable.”

Photo: TWTD

blueboy1981 added 18:52 - Jan 27 ........ chrishants - entirely down to the Referees to wipe it out, in conjunction with their Assistants. They are the guys on the spot, with the instant powers at their disposal to do so. More and more of it coming into the game - tougher refereeing would stamp it out, if players were instantly given a red - it would soon disappear. Absolute fact, because it would then not be tolerated by the Clubs concerned, or SUPPORTERS.

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Facefacts added 20:00 - Jan 27 We were in the game and poor refereeing cost us regardless of how many chances Villa created. More encouraging than Blackburn but we have got to start playing more direct from minute one. Said it many times we have got to stop playing out from the back we don't have the players for it and in spite of his praise of our current group of young players he doesn't really trust them in the 1st XI. We would need a top class keeper/sweeper; is our new young keeper of that type?

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bugledog123 added 10:14 - Jan 28 Never a penalty ffs
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 13:59 - Jan 28 Just watched the incident on "highlights." Absolute rubbish decision. If that was a penalty, there would be at least 20 or 30 penalties per game. Smith is a **** for claiming Judge "put his hands round his neck" or some such. Let's have a bit of honesty from managers. Usually, I accept you win some and lose some, but that decision makes me angry because it had such an impact on our game. We'd weathered the storm and were doing ok. Not surprised PL blew his top.

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madmouse1959 added 23:10 - Jan 28 How do you expect to win a game when you only start attacking when the other team doesn,t ? We need to replace players we should of got rid of a long time ago.
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