Derby County head coach Frank Lampard has told the Derby Telegraph that he was angry that the referee did not give them a penalty in their 2-2 draw with Birmingham City.
The Rams needed a win to help them in their race to get into the Sky Bet Championship play-offs but were unable to get that in this thrilling game. Birmingham got the lead after just two minutes through Lukas Jutkiewicz though Derby were level five minutes later thanks to Martyn Waghorn. The Blues retook the lead through Michael Morrison but once again Derby fired back with Richard Keogh grabbing a point for Derby.
But Lampard’s anger at the end of the match was not due to any of these goals but an incident he believed should have led to a penalty for Derby. After a shot by Mason Mount was saved, Craig Bryson rushed to get to the ball first but appeared to be held back by Gary Gardner. This, among a few other instances, caused Lampard to target the referee after the match.
He said: “It was a tough game,”
“The players gave everything and if we’d got the clear penalty on Craig Bryson, it would have won a very tight game.”
“He (Hooper) got it wrong. The referee doesn’t want to agree but wait until he sees it again. I’ve seen it already.”
“He (Bryson) gets his arm pulled as he’s about to try to get the knock-down.”
“The referee has the clearest view of anyone to get it.”
“After Blackburn, I’ll come out and say we were poor – our job was badly done on the day.”
“But these are points to try to get into the play-offs and get promotion – and we lose two, because we didn’t get a penalty that was an absolute penalty.”
Should Frank Lampard be in the Top 20 Managers of the EFL? Vote now!
