Jones rages at ‘absolute disgrace’ as ref misses ‘stonewall penalty’ in Coventry draw

Nathan Jones blasted the “absolute disgrace” as Luton were denied a clear penalty in last night’s 2-2 Championship draw with Coventry City. 

Carlton Morris scored a brace for Town but twice they were pegged back, but there was controversy eight minutes from time when defender Kyle McFadzean pulled off a goalkeeper save to stop Jordan Clark’s shot with both hands. 

Referee Andy Davies didn’t give anything despite the furious protests from players in the pitch and in the home dugout. 

Jones told Sky Sports: “It’s an absolute disgraceful decision. The boy’s dived two-handed to save the shot. We weren’t at our best by any means but it’s a penalty, it’s clear, it’s a disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace.” 

Boos rang around Kenilworth Road as the officials trudged off after the game, and Jones spoke with them back in the dressing room and despite clear video evidence showing the infringement, the Luton boss said: “You can’t show them. So, there’s no accountability. We’ll get maybe an email in three weeks’ time saying, ‘yep, it should’ve been a penalty.’

“This is so clear. He’s dived to save a ball. I think it’s actually hit both hands. He’s actually dived. 

“If he had a pair of gloves on it would’ve been a wonderful save. It’s a terrible decision.” 

Then, speaking to The Lutonian and the rest of the written media, Jones was no less furious. 

He said: “We should have had a pen at the end, it’s madness, it’s bonkers, it’s just crazy how that isn’t given.

“It’s a great save if you’re a goalkeeper, he got two hands on it. It’s not a hard decision, that’s the thing, and once again we’re here.

“I know it’s hard for them, I get it, he’s a good referee, a lovely guy, he didn’t mean to not give it, but you’ve got to get them right as that’s another one.

“Sheffield United (offside equaliser) and that, we should be sitting on four points more from two of the last three home games

“I’m very critical of myself tactically, I’m very critical of certain things, I’ve been critical of certain elements of my players tonight, but they’ve (officials) got to look at themselves as that’s not good enough, that can’t happen at this level, it’s not good enough.”

Jones was speaking with the officials before conducting his post-match press conference and he said: “I’ve been into see him, you can show them a still, he’s actually dived, he’s got two hands on it, we’ve got the still, he’s got two hands on the ball.

“It’s a wonderful save but it’s a stonewall penalty. It’s a game-changing moment, and that’s the disappointing thing as they get that right and we come in here and say we haven’t been fluent, we can do a lot of things better but we’ve scored three goals at home.

“You expect to win when you score three goals at home, but we didn’t and it compounded a poor night.”