Football That was a stonewall penalty, says City boss Dean
BWe put ourselves under pressure by giving the ball away too cheaply against a side looking to get men behind the ball
RISTOL City head coach Dean Holden was unhappy his side were not awarded a late spot-kick in Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough when Tyreeq Bakinson went down under a challenge from Paddy McNair.
“It was a stonewall penalty,” he said. “But we cannot control the officials. What we can control is our own performance, which was way below the levels we have set.
“We had a bitter pill to swallow when Barnsley equalised in the last minute on Saturday and we have followed that with a belowpar display.
“Now we have to respond quickly and do better against Swansea at the weekend.
“Taylor Moore is a young player who will learn from what happened tonight. We certainly don’t want to take risks like that playing out from the back.
“He has apologised to the group in the dressing room. It was one of many poor decisions we made as a team. We put ourselves under pressure by giving the ball away too cheaply against a side looking to get men behind the ball.
“We need to be better than that, but it has still been a strong start to the season.”
A drab game was settled when Moore was robbed of possession on the edge of his own penalty area and former City player George Saville grabbed the only goal of the game. Following the match, Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock, pictured, was in jubilant mood while giving his verdict on the game, with his side good value for the three points.
The Boro boss had a special message for the City fans afterwards, joking that he’d have preferred a full house.
“I have to admit that I missed the crowd,” said Warnock following the game.
“I said to the security guard when I came in, ‘it’s so strange not having people banging on the coach windows.’
“I was hoping I could have done a lap of honour at the end, thump the air and give the crowd a wave because it could have been my last visit here.
“I was really pleased with the performance. You don’t always get what you deserve in football but we thoroughly deserved the three points.
“I didn’t actually see the goal - I turned away to get a drink of water as he went in on goal.
“I don’t think they had a shot on target and they’re a free-scoring team who’ve played with more confidence than they’ve had in a long time.
“To dull that confidence was ever so satisfying but we also played great football and controlled the game.”