REF FEELS WRATH OF BOSS ROBBO
Penalty and red against the Dons
KARL Robinson slammed referee David Webb’s ‘atrocious’ display after the official denied MK Dons a penalty before reducing them to ten men in this defeat.
Robinson’s men trailed 2-0 at half-time despite dominating the early exchanges at stadium:mk, with Chris Wood converting a penalty for the visitors after half an hour, and Charlie Taylor doubling their lead two minutes before the break.
Robinson felt the hosts should have had a penalty themselves for a handball in the dying moments of the half, and was in no mood to mince his words after referee Webb compounded Dons’ woe by dismissing Samir Carruthers for a dangerous tackle with 12 minutes to go
“His performance was atrocious,” Robinson said. “Someone has to say something. He should have to tell you why he hasn’t given that penalty in the first half, and why he’s sent Samir Carruthers off.
“We ask for consistency, and integrity, which they give us all the time, but the performance was way below par from the referee.”
Leeds had registered just a single shot on target before Wood gave them the lead from the spot following Carl Baker’s foul on Taylor in the box.
Josh Murphy and Rob Hall repeatedly went close for Dons with long-range efforts, the latter drawing a fine save from Marco Silvestri, who forced the ball onto the post just moments before Taylor relieved the pressure for the visitors by lashing the ball into the bottom corner from the lefthand edge of the box.
Dons improved after the break, and could have scored twice five minutes after the hour, with Diego Poyet drawing a fingertip save from Silvestri from 25 yards before Murphy rattled the near post. They finally got back into the game with 16 minutes remaining when Murphy centred for substitute Simon Church to sweep the ball home from point-blank range.
Robinson’s hopes of seeing his side salvage a point seemed to take a blow as Carruthers saw red for an ugly challenge on Stuart Dallas four minutes later, but they continued to dominate, with Ben Reeves drawing another good save from Silvestri with a free-kick seven minutes from time.
Anthony Kay connected with a corner in the sixth minute of stop- page time only to see his header cleared off the line as Dons stopper Martin joined the attack, before Poyet was forced to clear at the other end as Leeds countered.
The defeat sees Dons’ losing run stretch to four matches, but Robinson was pleased with his side’s display.
“I thought our players were excellent. We have a way of playing. It’s not right or wrong in any way, shape or form, but it’s right for what I believe in in my team.
“And we’ve moved the ball so efficiently through the thirds, we’ve overloaded in certain areas, and I think we’ve exploited a really good Leeds side.”
Leeds boss Rosler admitted that his side panicked in the latter stages, but felt they deserved to travel back up the M1 with all three points.
“There were so many twists and turns in the game,” he said .“Being 2-0 up at half-time was a great position to be in. I felt the way we managed the first 15-20 minutes of the second half was very impressive. We went for another goal and we could have easily scored in that period.
“Then the panic button came into play, even with a man more.
“I think in this league, you need to find a way to win. And even when you’re not playing over 90 minutes prettily, and that’s what we did.”