Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk aims frustration at officials after 'illegitimate' equaliser steals points away from Owls

Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk laid bare his frustration after a controversial equaliser stole two points away from his side at Cardiff City.
Garry Monk has expressed his frustration at match officials after a late Cardiff free kick cost his side two points.Garry Monk has expressed his frustration at match officials after a late Cardiff free kick cost his side two points.
Garry Monk has expressed his frustration at match officials after a late Cardiff free kick cost his side two points.

Lee Tomlin scored an 87th minute free-kick after referee Keith Stroud adjudged that he was fouled by Massimo Luongo, but it was the antics of six-foot-six centre-half Aden Flint that drew particular controversy.

The Cardiff man appeared to stand in the eyeline of Owls keeper Cameron Dawson, in as a last-gasp replacement after Keiren Westwood injured his ankle in the warm-up, in an offside position.

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Monk said: “I’m disappointed because had we conceded a legitimate goal against us I’d have to take that, but I’m told it’s not even a foul and one of their players is doing a star jump behind the wall to distract our keeper.

“How the officials haven’t seen first the foul, but then it’s not hard to see a six-foot-five or six-foot-six defender doing a star jump in front of the wall in an offside position, I don’t see how you can’t see that.

“It is what it is. There were a lot of good things in that game and we should have taken our opportunities as well. We should have been walking off that pitch with a win.”

The decision was the third marginal call in as many games to have gone against the Owls after a clear penalty was given as a free kick at Hull and Steven Fletcher’s goal against Wigan was called offside.

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The result means that Wednesday were unable to earn their first win at Cardiff in over 12 years, however, in a game they controlled for over an hour as Julian Börner deflected Kadeem Harris’ 19th minute strike.

Wednesday defender Dominic Iorfa consoles Cameron Dawson at full-time.Wednesday defender Dominic Iorfa consoles Cameron Dawson at full-time.
Wednesday defender Dominic Iorfa consoles Cameron Dawson at full-time.

Monk was pragmatic about the result but questioned whether his side could have seen out the match better in the second half.

“They’re a difficult team to play at home,” he said, “they’ve got a really good record here but I just felt the first 55 or 60 minutes we did exactly what I wanted them to do, we didn’t allow them to turn it into that physical scrap like we saw in the last 30.

“The reason we were able to do that is we controlled the ball well. We lost that control in the last 30.

“We’re playing against a top team, an experienced team and we end up with a point. I’m feeling a bit hard done by but there are plenty of positives to keep moving forward with there.”