Norwich boss: We deserved penalty (From Daily Echo)

Norwich boss: We deserved penalty

8:00am Monday 11th March 2013 in Sport

Norwich manager Chris Hughton was adamant his side deserved a penalty against Saints, even if they didn’t get it for the right incident.

The Canaries were controversially handed the chance to win the match deep into added time when Luke Shaw was judged to have bundled over Grant Holt in the area.

Referee Mark Clattenburg, after consulting with his assistant, awarded the spot kick, only for Saints keeper Artur Boruc to come to the rescue with a superb save from Holt.

The decision to penalise Shaw had infuriated the visiting players as well as manager Mauricio Pochettino, and even his opposite number Hughton clearly felt it was a generous decision.

But the Canaries boss said Saints were lucky not to have had a penalty awarded against them earlier in the match.

“We certainly should have been given a penalty in the first half when Shaw pulls back Grant Holt, so on balances we deserved one today.

“Grant has got himself ball side of the defender, and I think there is contact, so the referee has to make that decision, and he also has a linesman on that side.

“If we think that one was soft, the one in the first half wasn’t.

“It was not a particularly bad penalty, and the lad has made a good save.”

Hughton conceded that, had the spot kick been converted, it would have been a harsh result on Saints. “It was not one of our better performances, but the conditions were not easy,” he said.

“If you are speaking to our back four and the midfield two, they are probably more delighted we have got the clean sheet.

“Overall it was between two teams who are fighting hard for their lives and so in the end a draw was probably a fair result.”