Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher felt a 'huge turning point' went against his side in today's 3-2 defeat at Ipswich Town.
The Pilgrims, 1-0 up at the time, saw Mustapha Bundu go down under a challenge from behind by George Edmundson, right on the edge of the box, late in the first half. Referee Gavin Ward didn't give a foul and Ipswich went on to score an equaliser in stoppage-time.
"I thought the lads played unbelievably well," said Schumacher, whose team pushed Town all the way. "I've just said to them that I'm proud of the efforts they put in.
"We knew coming to Ipswich Town that these have been the best team in the league, obviously with Leicester, and we would have to have spells where we stuck together and defended. I felt we did that. In that first half we defended really well and countered with a purpose. Our goal was outstanding from an interception.
"I was really pleased with how the whole of the half was going and then I'm obviously fuming over how we didn't get a free-kick right on the edge of their box at a really pivotal moment in the game because what happened next was Ipswich went down the other end, get a corner and score from it. So that was a huge turning point that went against us."
He continued: "It's a refereeing decision I still can't get my head around. We watched it back at half-time. There is clear contact on Mustapha. He's said his ankle was clipped. I've just spoken to Gavin (Ward) and the linesman and they said they couldn't see it. I think they were the only two people in the ground who couldn't see it. James (Linington), the fourth official, was next to me and he said it looked and felt like a foul.
"Look, I'm not wanting to see people get sent off. It could arguably have been a red card because Edmundson was last man, but there are two covering defenders. It could have been a free-kick or a penalty, I don't know. I'm not arguing that, but what it definitely was was a foul.
"George Edmundson then goes and gets booked in the second half and that would have been a sending off had he got that first yellow."
Asked about that incident, Ipswich boss McKenna said: "I thought from where I was it looked like a free-kick, to be fair, so you'd be disappointed if you were them. I think it's just that though - a free-kick and a yellow card. That's if he doesn't touch the ball because I've not seen it from behind.
"I don't think it was a red card because there were covering defenders. I think we scored probably two or three minutes after that, so I don't think you can say of all the incidents in the game today that was necessarily the decisive one, but certainly in the moment I can see why they were frustrated not to get the free-kick."
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