Neil Warnock fumes over 'unbelievable' penalty decision during Leeds United vs Portsmouth — YEP 9/3/25
By Kyle Newbould
Leeds United felt aggrieved to not be given a first-half
penalty at Fratton Park.
Neil Warnock believes the referee missed a clear penalty for
Leeds United during their 1-0 defeat at Portsmouth on Sunday.
Leeds saw claims for a spot-kick waved away by referee Rob
Jones midway through the first-half after Dan James appeared to be caught in
the box by Matt Ritchie. The official has a completely unobstructed view of the
incident but signalled as if to suggest the Portsmouth man got the ball.
Replays showed Ritchie made no contact with the ball and
instead kicked through the back of James’ foot, sending him to the floor as
teammates looked towards the referee. Leeds went on to lose their first
Championship match since November and while there was plenty of time after that
call to take control, they will feel aggrieved that a potentially game-changing
moment went against them.
Leeds penalty verdict
“Absolutely [it should have been a penalty]. He’s in a good
position, the referee but he sees that and says he got the ball,” Warnock told
Sky Sports. “When he does it, he puts his arm up as if he’s going to blow
initially and then he puts it down. This is where they know the laws but don’t
know the game. In the Premier League, that’s a certain penalty because he’s got
help [with VAR] but he doesn’t need any help with that.
“You’re not going to get a more obvious penalty than that.
That’s why they should have Championship referees refereeing. He’s a Premier
League referee and he comes down to the Championship but he gives that in the
Premier League. That’s unbelievable to not give a decision like that.”
A first-half penalty could have given Leeds the platform to
build momentum but instead, they continued to falter as Portsmouth grew in
confidence. Chances still came for Farke’s side, with Joel Piroe and Junior
Firpo guilty of wasting golden opportunities, before Bishop got on behind to
produce the kind of finish those in yellow couldn’t.
“It’s all about the first contact. Dan James clearly gets
that touch and Matt Ritchie is late on it,” Former Reading midfielder Jobi
McAnuff added of the penalty incident. “Yes he’s trying to clear the ball but
gets absolutely no touch [on the ball].”
Asked if referee Jones’ vision might have been blocked, he
added: “I can’t say it is. He should be able to see Ritchie’s left foot and
again it all comes down to who got contact on the ball and if you see the
referee he does motion to say that Matt Ritchie’s got the ball. For me that
makes it even worse of a decision because he’s seen something that hasn’t
happened.”