Sheffield United were denied a blatant penalty in their goalless draw against Bournemouth this afternoon.

And referee Dean Whitestone’s decision not to point to the spot, after Morgan Gibbs-White was cleaned out by on-loan Liverpool defender Nat Phillips, was made all the more baffling when Gibbs-White claimed that assistant referee Akil Howson had told the referee that it was a penalty.

The decision was the talking point of a goalless draw between two sides who kicked off in sixth and second place, with the man involved admitting afterwards: “We should have had a penalty there. But we didn’t get it given.

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“I got the ball first and felt contact, and I couldn’t go anywhere because he took me out. I spoke to the linesman and he said he shouted it should have been a penalty, so I don’t know why the referee hasn’t given it.

“But, you know, that’s football at the end of the day.”