Wayne Rooney furious with penalty decision as Derby lose to Swansea

Posted Sunday, April 10, 2022 by PA

Derby manager Wayne Rooney criticised the officials after they failed to award his team a stoppage-time penalty in the 2-1 defeat at Swansea.

Relegation-threatened Derby were desperately seeking an equaliser when substitute Bartosz Cybulski appeared to be brought down in the third minute of time added on.

Swansea goalkeeper Andy Fisher tipped a header from home defender Cyrus Christie onto the crossbar before he and Ben Cabango bundled into Cybulski on the rebound inside the six-yard box.

However, referee Tim Robinson opted not to give a foul seconds before blowing the final whistle, sparking furious scenes on the touchline as Rooney remonstrated with fourth official Sam Allison.

Rooney said: “I think everyone in the stadium agrees (it was a penalty), the Swansea manager, fans, players, Derby players and fans knows it was a clear penalty apart from the four officials.

“I’ve said it time and again. I understand it’s difficult to give a decision when it’s a tight call but that was a clear and obvious foul and penalty.

“It leaves a lot of questions which I have to ask of the officials.

“I hope the referee gets banned and fined because that is not good enough.

“We’ve got a good young group of players who are working hard to try and help this club get through the difficulties it’s going through.

“He gets wrestled to the ground and the officials don’t see it. It’s crazy.

“You can ask what do we do? Do we get VAR in but officials are looking at VAR on a screen and still getting decisions wrong so I don’t know where we go but it feels easy to give decisions against us.”

Derby had already been awarded a penalty in the first half when Luke Plange was recklessly brought down by Fisher in the 22nd minute.

Tom Lawrence struck from the spot to half the deficit after Joel Piroe had scored twice in the space of eight minutes to put Swansea on track for a third win in a week.

Swansea manager Russell Martin said: “We’re absolutely delighted. It can’t be understated what it’s taken this week for the players, physically and emotionally.

“To ask them to go again with the same intensity and energy after two away games and the importance of last weekend’s derby was tough.

“We started the game brilliantly well and then a bit of tiredness crept in. There was some brilliant football at times, there was some tired and sloppy football at other times.

“But I can’t give them enough credit for what they’ve done this week.

“They deserve it for the amount of pain they’ve been through already this season and how together they’ve stayed.

“So I’m incredibly proud of them. It’s been a long time coming that third win in a week.”