Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says referee Stephen Martin cost his side victory following this afternoon's 2-2 home draw with Barnsley.
After Will Aitchison's stooping header had cancelled out Conor Chaplin's fine free-kick finish in the first half, Ipswich retook the lead through Sam Morsy's cool 70th minute finish and soon had the ball in the net again through Marcus Harness.
Man-in-black Martin, who has refereed more than 100 Championship games, controversially gave a foul against Harness though and Barnsley soon levelled things up through Callum Styles' header at a corner.
Ipswich pushed hard for a winner in the closing stages but couldn't find a breakthrough as George Edmundson hit the post, Kane Vincent-Young forced a smart save out of keeper Bradley Collins and Sone Aluko's strike was blocked on the line.
"It's frustrating," said McKenna. "I think it's obvious what the main frustration is about. The decision of the referee has cost us the game, for me.
"It was a clear goal, it was 3-1, it was what the players and the crowd deserved from the energy that they gave. But we lose the two points on a decision that I thought was really poor and really in-fitting with the performance of the referee in general. I thought he was much too keen to get involved in the game right throughout, he wanted to be actively involved, he wanted to make big decisions all the time.
"I thought it was a really good game between two good teams, played in the right spirit and it needed to be refereed in a better way to allow the game to flow.
"I think it needs to be looked at to be honest. This is the first time I've ever spoken about the quality of the refereeing and I don't want to speak too much. I think they're all really good guys, we speak with them before and after the games, but I really do think they need to look at who is designated to referee the games here at Portman Road. I think it's a different challenge, it's 25,000 people, it's an intense atmosphere and it needs referees with the experience and the personality to come here, stay calm, not get involved and allow the game to flow and to not make unnecessarily big decisions.
"We don't want any help, we don't want any home decisions, but we do want the level of the referee to match the level of everything else going on. I do think it needs to be looked at who is designated to referee our games here at home. Maybe some of the other clubs in the league would say the same. I think that was a big part of the frustration today and the decisive part of the result.
"I've not spoken to the referee, to be fair. I don't know him. I'm not sure if we've had him before. It's not anything personal, it's just about his level of performance today and, from other things I've seen in previous games, it needs to be a referee of a high level that comes here for our games."
Asked if he felt his team should have been awarded a penalty at towards the end of the first half, when Leif Davis tangled with Luke Thomas, McKenna said: "I haven't seen it back. It looked like a penalty at the time. I thought there were so many bizarre decisions out there.
"Usually you expect more decisions as a home team. We don't want them and we're not asking for them, but that's the way the decisions usually go, from my experience, when you're playing in a big stadium in front of big support. Today it was as almost as if the referee was trying to make the opposite point and make big decisions against the home team and against the crowd and maybe had a reason for that.
"That was the case right the way through the game and was the case for what would have been a decisive goal in the game."
Neither Barnsley goalscorer had to get off the ground to score headed goals. That must have been part of today's frustration for McKenna too?
"Absolutely and we have to own that bit," said the Northern Irishman. "It's not like us.
"We certainly have to be better with the two goals, especially the first one. It's a second phase ball hung up into the box and we have to be more aggressive to go and attack the ball, there's no doubt about that. At that stage I thought we were going to run away with the game. But it was a poor lapse in concentration from us that allowed them that moment.
"The second goal was a little bit different. It was an outswinging delivery going away to their spare man who was a blocker. If you watch it back I don't think he was even expecting it to come, but he's planted a fantastic header in from maybe 14 /15 yards. There are little details there we can improve, having watched it, in our zones. But it was also, you have to say, a great header from a long way out. Credit to them for that."
Asked for his overall assessment of his team's performance, McKenna said: "Pleased. I thought we did more than enough good things to be happy with the performance. It was a difficult game against a good team.
"First half was never going to be a case of creating lots of clear cut opportunities. They came to defend, first and foremost, and they do that well. Michael (Duff) is very good at setting his teams up in that way. We were patient, we had good tempo, we got to good areas, we needed a bit of magic to open the scoring and the disappointing thing is that we didn't build on that momentum.
"Second half I thought we created more than enough chances against a team who are really, really, really deep at that point. We did lots of good things in terms of finding the balance between patience and switching the play from side-to-side, but also putting crosses into the box and arriving for the first and second ball.
"We hit the post, had one cleared off the line, there was a great save from the goalkeeper, a goal that should have stood, we scored a very good second goal... this against a team who have just come down, have lots of good players and a good new manager. I think we have to be happy with the performance and the general direction of travel of the team."
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