Penalty decision was ‘half-a-yard’ outside the box, Manning claims after Owls defeat

Dean Lewington’s foul on Josh Windass was half a yard outside the box and should never have been awarded as a penalty, according to Liam Manning after Sheffield Wednesday’s narrow 1-0 win over MK Dons on Saturday.

The striker was sent sprawling over Lewington’s out-stretched leg, and after a few seconds to think, referee Anthony Backhouse pointed to the spot, though replays show the foul was committed outside white line.

The decision on 22 minutes, as well as one not given Dons’ way in second-half stoppage time when defender Ben Heneghan pushed Matt Dennis to the ground in the same penalty area, ultimately ended up meaning Dons would suffer their second 1-0 defeat in a row at the start of the campaign, must to the frustration of the head coach, who pointed at the officials for their poor performance afterwards.

“I'm extremely disappointed because the match was decided by the officials' mistake,” he said. “It was outside the box, by about half a yard, and for me that was quite obvious.

“And watching it back at the end, we could have got one when the centre-half comes across and two hands in the back of Matt Dennis is not a foul apparently. How the game was officiated was the biggest disappointment.

“We had a meeting in the EFL in the summer about game management, time-wasting at throw ins and goal kicks, but they took an eternity. He can keep blowing his whistle and telling them to hurry up but it didn't do anything. I'm really disappointed with the standard of the officials today.”

Despite his grievances though, Dons still sit with no points after the opening two games, and no goals to show for their efforts either.

Manning contnued: “We have to win and pick up points first and foremost, but we also have to understand it's a group with potential, but we have to shift it into winning games and that was much closer today. We've got so many games, we've got a chance to bounce back quickly.

“I'm disappointed for the lads. When you see the progress they have made from last week to this, against a huge club with a huge budget, we gave them a hard afternoon where we dominated large spells.”