Penalty decision hurts Hughes April 05 2008
Blackburn manager Mark Hughes felt his side were denied a late penalty during their 1-1 draw with Tottenham at Ewood Park.
Hughes thought Rovers midfielder David Bentley was impeded by Spurs substitute Gilberto eight minutes from the end of the Premier League contest.
Rovers had already come from behind with Bentley setting up a Morten Gamst Pedersen equaliser after an early Dimitar Berbatov goal.
Hughes said: "It was a penalty. David has picked up the ball in the midfield area and burst forward with real purpose at the heart of their defence.
"The guy has obviously stood in front of him and actually made a move with his leg to make sure David went down.
"The very minimum it should have been is obstruction, and that wasn't given either. We felt it was a certain penalty.
"We are a little disappointed with that because we had done really well to get back on level terms.
"We didn't start at all brightly, Spurs were better in that early period.
"If you give good players time and space they will pick you off, which they did.
"But I think the goal stirred us, we were better after that. We scored a great goal ourselves."
Both goals were well worked, with Berbatov striking for the 22nd time this season after Steed Malbranque threaded a superb ball through for Jermaine Jenas to square to the Bulgarian.
Pedersen also benefited from excellent build-up play as Bentley brilliantly controlled Steven Reid's crossfield pass and powered past Pascal Chimbonda before crossing.
It proved an open game, one both sides were clearly intent on winning, but with few clear-cut chances a draw was a fair result.
Hughes, however, was also disappointed when Jason Roberts was penalised by referee Peter Walton for a foul on Michael Dawson after breaking clear on goal.
"The second half could have gone either way but I always felt we could create opportunities and the penalty would have been a key decision had it gone for us," he added.
"I didn't feel our front guys had much help from the referee.
"I harp back to one incident when Jason Roberts had very minimal contact on the lad Dawson. I've seen the replay and I think Dawson just misjudged the flight of the ball.
"But overall it was a decent Premier League game - two evenly-matched teams."
The draw was a blow to Blackburn's hopes of qualifying for Europe, while mid-table Spurs seemingly had little to play for.
Spurs boss Juande Ramos said: "In the first half we had some excellent chances and good possession of the ball.
"I think we should maybe have settled the game in the first half but then the equaliser came and the second half was much more even.
"As the game went on there were less and less chances and I think it was always going to be a draw towards the end."
Ramos had no opinion on Blackburn's penalty claims.
He added: "From the bench it is hard to see, there were a lot of players around and sometimes on these incidents it is hard to make a call."
With all the recent publicity given to players' apparent lack of respect for referees, there was one amusing incident when Tottenham captain Robbie Keane appeared to tell Berbatov to behave.
Berbatov felt he had been fouled but Keane gesticulated pointedly to his strike partner to suggest that looking aggrieved would not benefit him.
"Players always want to do their best out there on the field. Sometimes particular incidents might not quite come off but it shows there is a real desire there," added Ramos.