Russell Martin feels his side could have had two penalties at Middlesbrough this afternoon but ultimately he refused to blame the referee for the fact that his side lost the game but he did point to them being key decisions in the outcome of the game.
The Swans boss stated that he believed his side should have had at least one, if not two, penalties during the game and bemoaned the fact that these kind of decisions keep going against us with the Swans being denied several penalties over the past few games.
The replay of the challenge first half on Jamie Paterson did suggest that maybe the player had made his decision to go down before contact was made but there was contact despite that which should not be overlooked.
“Pato is adamant there is a touch, otherwise he would stay on his feet,” said Martin on the club’s official website.
“Joel Piroe also has one when he was running through in the middle of the goal.
“The explanation is that they were both looking at the ball, but Sol Bamba fouls him. He is the right side of Sol Bamba and he gets brought down.
“The same with Pato, he is adamant he would have just stayed on his feet and put it in if he could.
“But it is what it is. We conceded a poor goal and that is not because of the referee.
“But they are big moments and they are a big factor in the game and they just didn’t go our way.”