Stoke City boss Michael O’Neill hits out over key moments in Huddersfield draw

Stoke City manager Michael O’Neill was furious with decisions that went against his side in their 1-1 draw away at Huddersfield Town. 

One of the key decision that went against his side was a foul on Taylor Harwood-Bellis by Josh Koroma.

Koroma appeared to misjudge the flight of the ball and make contact with Harwood-Bellis’s knee with the referee not deeming the challenge to be a foul, let alone a red card.

Moments later, Koroma scored only to add to the fury of Michael O’Neil. To make matters worse, Stoke had a penalty claim waved away by the officials.

This left O’Neill angry as he told the Stoke Sentinel: “Their lad who scored the goal should have been nowhere near the pitch – under any circumstances, it was an awful challenge on Taylor.

“The tackle is knee-high, it is straight leg and it is just so dangerous, so how the referee has missed that, I really have no idea.

“Then we have the foul on Tyrese inside the box which is a clear cut penalty, which isn’t given. He comes from the blindside of the defender, nicks the ball in front of him and is clearly taken down.

“The referee just stands there and waves it away, so it is just incredibly poor refereeing from him – just as it was when he missed another awful challenge on Jacob (Brown) late on.”

The draw now means Stoke are six points adrift the playoff places, with the Potters next in action when they host Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday afternoon.

The Verdict

O’Neill has every right to be angry at the referee’s display. Both incidents in the first half should have gone Stoke’s way and it’s hard to find an argument against it other than the officials maybe not having the best view of the situation.

To make matters worse, Koroma scoring only