Fulham boss claims ref Harrington made ‘clear mistake’ to award Huddersfield a penalty

Fulham manager Marco Silva slammed referee Tony Harrington for his decision to give Huddersfield a penalty just before half time – describing it as a “clear mistake”.

The Championship leaders were 2-0 at the break after goals from Danny Ward and Duane Holmes. The latter converted from the spot after Harrington felt Marek Rodak had fouled Sorba Thomas.

Fulham halved the deficit with five minutes remaining when Bobby Decordova-Reid scored.

The Whites had 20 efforts on goal – six of those on target.

Silva said: “That penalty is difficult for me to talk about, it’s a clear mistake from the referee. Their player fell on Marek and it was too easy for him to make the decision. It was strange for me.

“It made a big impact on the game. It’s tough to understand. We were the best team on the pitch, definitely.

“We knew we would play against a team with good organisation in a good moment. Like every team that plays against us, they fought for every ball and did everything they can to stop us. There were no surprises from them.

“Even if the result wasn’t the best, even if we’re all disappointed, my players did almost everything I asked from them.

“We created so many problems for them, we pushed them back. Maybe our biggest chance was before the first goal, the cross that Mitro almost scored from.

“The only thing we did wrong was the first goal, and when that type of thing happens, it created a platform for them and it became more difficult for us.

“I changed some positional things at half time, and our second half was very good. We created chances and pushed back.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t score a little earlier, then it would’ve been a little bit different. Even after our goal, we had a big chance with Fabio [Carvalho], and there was a clear handball that the referee and linesman in perfect positions didn’t see.”