Johnson’s complaint is official
LEE JOHNSON believes this close Championship contest was decided by a huge mistake by the match officials.
The Bristol City head coach was furious that Lucas Joao’s opening goal on 64 minutes was not ruled out for offside when he ran on to a long clearance from goalkeeper Cameron Dawson.
Johnson remonstrated angrily with referee Andy Davies at the time and, having seen the goal again after the game, he was even more convinced of an injustice.
“The first goal in Championship games is so important and we have conceded it through substandard officiating,” he said. “It was three yards offside.
“An individual has let us down and it wasn’t one of my players. It is frustrating and we can’t allow this sort of thing to continue at our level. I don’t normally talk about officials, but today it was such a key moment. I think they knew immediately that an error had been made.”
Joao, an 18th-minute substitute for the injured Steven Fletcher, held off Nathan Baker before firing low past Niki Maenpaa.
Two minutes later, with City still stunned, Joao netted again with a fierce drive from 12 yards that had no question marks over it.
Matty Taylor gave City hope with an 80th-minute penalty after substitute Callum O’Dowda had been fouled by Josh Onomah.
But despite exerting heavy late pressure during seven minutes of stoppage time, Johnson’s men could not conjure up an equaliser.
Wednesday boss Jos Luhukay was far from overjoyed by his team’s performance, admitting they had been outplayed early on.
“We are proud to be in the top six, but I was not happy with what I saw in the first half,” he said. “Bristol created several chances, while we had only one or two.
“The second half was much better. We scored two good goals and, after giving away a stupid penalty, defended well at the end.
“Lucas Joao was having a difficult game after going on as substitute, not always keeping the ball. But he was different after his first goal and in the end was very important to us.”