QPR boss Martí Cifuentes was pleased with his side’s display against the Blues as they drew 0-0 at Portman Road, but felt his side ought to have been awarded two penalties.

Cifuentes was delighted with the reaction following the 2-0 loss to Millwall at the Den on Tuesday but believed they should have been awarded two penalties, one after sub Paul Smyth went to ground as he was challenged by Luke Woolfenden and the other for handball against Kayden Jackson in the dying seconds.

“A good answer from my guys after a disappointing performance on Boxing Day, against a very good side,” he said.

“I think Ipswich is one of the teams that I like the most in the league, the way we play. They have been really, really strong this season, especially at home, scoring a lot of goals, creating a lot of chances and I think today we did a good job.

“Sometimes football is a little bit more than the tactic and the training, but also the togetherness, the capacity to build as a team some kind of identity and I think that today the answer from the guys in terms of how committed they were against a very good team, was excellent.

“We competed at a very good level during all the game and perhaps some marginal situations could have gone our way and we could have taken the three points.

“We hit the post, the most clear chance of the game, probably, and we had a couple of situations. Usually I don’t like to speak to the refs, but I have the feeling in the last few games we had three or four situations that could easily have gone our way.

“I’m not the kind of manager that will be hearing crying about the referee’s decision, I think that the ref has a very difficult job, they have been excellent today for 95 minutes, but unfortunately there were two situations for me that in the last minute it seemed that we could play an NBA game, it was allowed to take a rebound in the box. It was a clear handball.”

He added: “I don’t want to focus all the talk on the ref, but I’ve seen the images, I think it’s a clear penalty, an extended arm, handball.

“Every year with the handball rule it’s very tricky because they try to change it and I think in the end all of us, we get confused. But, as I understand it, if it’s an extended arm, non-natural position inside the box, it’s a clear penalty.

“Especially, the first situation [with Smyth] was quite clear. I don’t understand, but that’s how it is, that’s the game.”

Reflecting further on the performance, he added: “We need just to get better, hopefully this can be the foundation to have a good performance against Cardiff and we look forward.”

Regarding the delay in play due to a medical emergency, he said: “It’s always a difficult situation because we didn’t know much more than it was a medical emergency and all my thoughts are with the family and the friends.

“We tried just to adjust to the situation and the players did a good job. I think we started the second half in a focused way, but it’s always tricky to keep the players warm and actually Chrissy Willock was a bit on the edge today, we tried to push him and after all these delays and the warm-up, he felt that he was not ready.”

Photo: Imago Images Sports

pointofblue added 23:15 - Dec 29 Considering practically every decision outside the box went QPR's way, I'm not sure how much room he has to moan.
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ArnieM added 23:38 - Dec 29 And the stonewall penalty WE weren’t given in the second half. I’m sick to death of bloody biased refs
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Nomore4 added 23:46 - Dec 29 Totally agree Arnie……definitely Town pen from what I could see in lower north.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 00:08 - Dec 30 "I don't want to talk about the ref," but then I'll go on and rabbit on about him anyway. Thank goodness for KMcK's objective assessments - a very rare breed among football managers.
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Bert added 00:31 - Dec 30 IMO there were not any true penalty incidents in the game. The referee was right how he called them but unfortunately he wasn’t brave enough to let the game continue when players came together. That said, there was hardly any flow in a game that was flat, supporters were flat and after the Lord Mayor’s show it was all rather dull. If QPR’s manager was pleased with his team’s performance then he has obviously settled for mediocrity. Tonight was a league one type game played in challenging circumstances for the team in blue.

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Len_Brennan added 02:22 - Dec 30 First one, I've seen 'em given; Woolfenden's hand was on his shoulder, but I felt it was a clear dive & the ref was right there looking straight at it. Second one, the handball from Jackson; we got lucky there. His arm was outstretched & we'd be livid had it been in the other box & not given.
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howsey51 added 02:24 - Dec 30 watching on towntv- the 2 challenges in the box were not penalties. Both players from each team looking for something. Was a handball though. Lucky there was no VAR or it would have been given. Very soft though, and no advantage gained.
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Umros added 08:21 - Dec 30 Not the type of manager that you’ll hear crying about ref. That’s all I can hear mate ! I’d like to know if there is any case in football where a second yellow has been issued for timewasting or is the first one issued just a token gesture because that’s what happened last night with the goal Keeper! Do we ‘cry more’ ?
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