Penalty call has Danny boiling over
CHESTERFIELD boss Danny Wilson was left infuriated after a “stone-wall penalty” wasn’t given, as his side failed to score their first goal of 2017.
Mark Marshall and Jordy Hiwula netted firsthalf efforts for Bradford, while referee Trevor Kettle was unmoved when Nathaniel Knight-Percival seemed to bring down Ched Evans in the box after the break.
“It’s a stone-wall penalty,” stormed Wilson. “It is a red card, there’s no doubt about it the boy should be off.
“The referee said he went down too easily. How the hell can that not be a penalty and not be a red card?
“But it’s game management. We’ve said so many times – decisionmaking is vital. We had 30 or 40 yards of room and still wanted to play one-touch football.
“We lose the ball and then they score, it’s criminal.”
The Bantams took the lead against the run of play as Marshall was allowed too much time and fired into the bottom corner before striker Evans hit the post for the visitors.
Poor defending was the Spireites’ undoing as Josh Cullen teed up Hiwula to double the lead while the denied penalty shout seemed to take wind out of Chesterfield’s sails.
And Bradford boss Stuart McCall was full of praise for the opposition, especially rumoured Bantams transfer target Evans.
He said: “We struggled in the second half and we got sloppy but we’ve got to give Chesterfield credit because they pushed us all the way.
“I thought playing as a lone striker he (Evans) gave our defenders a real hard time because of his physical strength and everything about him.”