Leeds United chief Daniel Farke criticised referee Rob Jones' "poor decision" not to award his side a first half penalty in their loss away to Portsmouth.

The visitors produced a below-par showing in the opening 45 minutes but had a strong penalty appeal waved away after Matt Ritchie appeared to bring down Daniel James in the early stages. Farke told Sky Sports: "It was a clear penalty. We don't have to speak about it. It was a key moment.

"It was a poor decision from the referee. His position was good and he should have seen it."

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Given their struggles in front of goal, Farke joked his side would "probably" have missed the penalty. "On a day like this when we miss so many chances maybe we'd have missed the penalty," he said. "We have to accept it and I wouldn't blame just this situation, We had enough chances to win this game and we shouldn't have offered them their chance."

Manor Solomon and Joel Piroe were denied by agility of Nicolas Schmid in the first period as Portsmouth held their own against the Championship leaders.

Whites top-scorer Piroe also blazed over after the restart with the goal at his mercy. It proved a costly miss as Colby Bishop fired Pompey ahead just after the hour mark. The striker raced on to a hopeful pass down the left channel before neatly dinking the ball over the advancing Illan Meslier.

Junior Firpo (2), James and substitute Sam Byram went close to rescuing a result for the Whites in the final quarter of an entertaining clash. Both Firpo and Portsmouth talisman Josh Murphy struck the woodwork.

The result condemned United to their first league defeat since November. Farke said: "First of all, congratulations to Portsmouth. It was an important win for them. We are disappointed with the loss but it's football. We expected an unbelievably tough game today and we knew that no other team had won more points in 2025 at home than Portsmouth.

"In football, you have to take your chances and not offer mistakes. We had three situations where we were one on one against the goalkeeper. One of them was even without a goalkeeper and we missed chances. Two times Joel Piroe and one time Junior Firpo; normally the calmest and coolest players in front of goal. It was one of those days.

"We offered one mistake and gave a goal too cheaply. There was a situation where there was pressure on [Connor] Ogilvie and he played a long ball and we allowed [Colby] Bishop to run into the channel and all of a sudden he was one against one against our goalkeeper. It was a very easy goal.

"They were more effective with their chances and you have to say congratulations to them. This is how football works sometimes."