Referee Mick Russell admitted after the Huddersfield game that he booked Jeremy Helan twice … but didn’t send him off!
Helan was cautioned early on for what the ref adjudged to be a dive as the youngster burst between two Huddersfield defenders in a threat on goal. It looked a harsh decision from the other end of the ground and Dave Jones felt it was a definite penalty.
Then, later in the half Helan’s mistimed tackle brought a ‘second’ yellow card from Russell. However, the referee had apparently put Michail Antonio’s name in his notebook for the first offence and so Helan escaped a sending off.
Huddersfield manager, Simon Grayson, described the decision as “staggering” and said the referee apologised to him for the error as they wallked off at the end of the game.
Jones said: “”I don’t know about a first booking, it was a penalty. That’s the controversy.
“Helan has been clipped and he’s not the type of lad to dive. I think we should have won the game, that’s what I’m perplexed about and we should have had a penalty.”
He added: “The referee is there to make the decisions and we are there to abide by them. He thought he made the right decision at the time and the game moved on.”