Rowett thinks Derby were denied a ‘stonewall penalty’ in draw with Bristol City

Derby manager Gary Rowett claimed his team were denied a “stonewall penalty” as promotion rivals Bristol City held them to a goalless draw.

New signing Cameron Jerome appeared to be tripped by Aden Flint near the end but referee Darren England booked the striker for a dive.

It looked a let-off for City, although they had a great chance in the 23rd minute when Jamie Paterson blazed over eight yards out at the back post.

Frank Fielding saved from Matej Vydra and blocked a Richard Keogh volley while Flint cleared a Curtis Davies header off the line and Johnny Russell shook the crossbar.

Luke Steele replaced Fielding for the second half and made a great save to turn over a drive from Tom Lawrence before he denied Vydra from 12 yards in the 68th minute.

The big talking point came in the 87th minute when Jerome seemed to be clipped by Flint but the referee showed the striker a yellow card.

Rowett said: “For me, and I’ve seen it again three or four times, it’s an absolute stonewall penalty.

“I’m disappointed and I spoke to the ref afterwards and at the time and he said it looked like he dived but for him to book Cameron for that was the wrong decision.

“He’s not meant to do it and he’s not purposely got the decision wrong but the reality is looking at it back he got it wrong and it’s cost us the chance to win the game that we probably should have put to bed numerous times during the 90 minutes.”

When asked if VAR would have changed the decision, Rowett admitted: “It’s still in its infancy and I’m not overly sure about it at the moment. But I think you could have showed that 1,000 times and I’m pretty sure 1,000 people would have said it was a penalty.”

Bristol City manager Lee Johnson was not happy the incident was replayed on the stadium screens by Derby’s in-house TV channel.

He said: “My initial reaction was I thought it was a dive but then I looked to the replay which is an illegal manoeuvre by the Rams TV editors – you’re not allowed to do that.

“But it did look like a pen from the replay, that’s for sure. It wasn’t a dive but I thought we had four or five decisions that didn’t go our way.”

Fielding came off with a groin injury and is a doubt for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Manchester City.

“Sometimes these things settle,” Johnson said. “It could be a nerve in his back that’s referred the pain to the groin or it could be something that’s been torn.”