Matt Taylor angry at ‘one-sided’ refereeing

Rotherham manager Matt Taylor bemoaned what he felt was a “one-sided” refereeing display as his side were denied a late penalty in their 2-1 loss to Norwich.

The Millers seemed certain Chiedozie Ogbene had been felled by Isaac Hayden but referee Dean Whitestone instead booked the Republic of Ireland winger for simulation.

It would have handed the Millers a late shot at a leveller but goals from Kenny McLean and Aaron Ramsey, either side of one from Ollie Rathbone, settled the contest in Norwich’s favour.

Taylor said: “It’s a penalty. But we have spoken enough about referees. I can’t continue to comment.

“It’s a clear penalty. These are decisions which are constantly going against us.

“It seemed to be a very one-sided officiating affair. He has made two huge errors. I am sounding like a broken record but I can’t describe those moments any other way. The culmination of decisions which went against us was incredible. It feels like a lot is going against us.

“The performance was pretty much where it needed to be against another top team. It was a 98 per cent performance, I’m afraid. We got back into the game and 30 seconds later, they’re ahead again. We are climbing mountains.”

Taylor also feels the packed schedule ahead of the World Cup is impacting Rotherham’s smaller squad.

Both strikers Conor Washington and Georgie Kelly had to be substituted with first-half injuries.

Taylor added: “It seems everything is against us. It is the toll of the schedule. We can’t cope with it.

“We could offset it if we had a big enough squad, but we don’t. It’s a cruel world for us at the moment.

“I hope we can put out a competitive team for the two games before the break.”

Rotherham had early opportunities to take the lead but fell behind on 17 minutes when McLean was on hand to head in after Teemu Pukki’s initial shot had spiralled up into the air.

The start to the second half was frenzied, with Rotherham levelling the scores on 49 minutes through Rathbone who latched onto a wayward pass from Gabriel Sara before drilling into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Norwich went back ahead on 50 minutes with Ramsey poking in after Viktor Johansson had saved from Josh Sargent.

Both sides created chances but the major talking point was when Ogbene’s appeals were turned down.

The same player almost levelled the game deep into injury time but his strike whistled just wide.

Norwich head coach Dean Smith said: “It was a good performance. We controlled some large parts.

“I thought we dropped off in the last 15 minutes and allowed them to come onto us a little. But I thought we defended really well.

“We knew what the game was going to be about. It’s not an easy place to come. The fans are on top of you, it can be hostile and we had to deal with that.

“There were some really good bits of play. I felt every time we went forward we caused them problems. We had to be alert but on the whole I thought it was a proper team performance. There was no outstanding individual.

“We are having games thick and fast. But it’s only important that we follow this up next week.”