Fulham boss Mark Hughes bemoaned the lack of a penalty decision after seeing Fulham draw 1-1 at West Ham to maintain their unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
Referee Andre Marriner failed to give a penalty when Eddie Johnson went down under pressure in the box from Lars Jacobsen.
Soon afterwards, Fulham took the lead via a Clint Dempsey strike before Frederic Piquionne levelled six minutes after the interval.
Afterwards, Hughes believed Marriner had got the majority of the game’s decisions right, but not the penalty appeal.
He said: “I am disappointed we didn’t get the awarding of the penalty because at 2-0 going into half-time it would have been difficult for them to come back.
“Eddie got in behind the defence and if there is any contact whatsoever then more often than not it is a penalty.
“Unfortunately for us for whatever reason it wasn’t given. From our point of view it was clear, there was a coming together, a tangle of legs and a goalscoring opportunity was denied, so it should have been a penalty.”
Hughes was disappointed his side did not register the win after creating a number of goalscoring opportunities.
He said “We had got our noses in front and played really well in the first half, I felt we really dominated possession and dictated the play, scored a good goal and had a clear penalty dismissed for what reason I’m still a little bit curious to find out to be perfectly honest.
“Obviously we talked at half-time about the response that we expected from West Ham and certainly in the beginning of the second half, the first 10, 15 minutes or so, they put us under a little bit of pressure but at times we invited them onto us and just over-played in key areas and that’s when they got their goal.
“So we’re disappointed with that part of our game but overall, a good performance, created four or five really good clear-cut chances and I think that’s the difference that we’re seeing in our play, we are really positive away from home now and it’s only a matter of time before we convert these opportunities to wins I feel.”
He added: “All in all I think we’ve got to be pleased enough with the point but there is a sense of frustration because we feel it’s possibly an opportunity missed given the chances that we created today.”
