Fourth official said it wasn’t a penalty – Cowley
DANNY COWLEY found an unlikely ally in the dispute over AFC Wimbledon’s controversial penalty.
According to the Blues’ boss, fourth official Alan Young agreed that it was a ‘wrong’ decision.
Referee Thomas Bramall awarded the visitors a 24th-minute penalty, which was converted by Ollie Palmer, following Ronan Curtis’ challenge on Nesta Guinness-Walker.
It was an awful decision, ensuring the match official was booed by the home faithful for the remainder of Saturday’s game.
Pompey came back to claim a 2-1 triumph through goals from Michael Jacobs and Marcus Harness.
Meanwhile, Cowley insists the fourth official told him he also didn’t agree with his colleague over Wimbledon’s spot kick.
He told The News: ‘I have watched it back, it wasn’t a penalty, the referee has got that one wrong.
‘The fourth official told me at the time that it definitely wasn’t a penalty.
‘I moaned about referees last week, I was determined that, regardless of the result, not to speak about them after this game because I want the focus to be on the players and also our supporters. ‘That’s what we are pleased about because maybe six weeks ago we don’t find that winning goal, maybe we are still in the victim mode. ‘We showed the resilience you need to, you have to be able to win games in different ways. Now we are starting to win games from going behind.’
Referee Bramall endured a poor afternoon, irrespective of the penalty decision.
Even when Pompey fans were celebrating the win, they still focused anger on the official as he left the field.
Cowley sought to keep his players away from Bramall at half time, but fired a few words in his direction as they left the pitch.
And the pair also exchanged pleasantries inside during the interval.
Cowley added: ‘We spoke at half time, only in a polite way, he gave what he saw.
‘It wasn’t so much the penalty, the foul count was so significantly against us in a game we were on top in until the penalty.’