Liam Manning infuriated after Ashton Gate penalty incident in Bristol City loss vs Burnley

Liam Manning felt Bristol City should have been awarded a penalty in their Championship defeat to Burnley at Ashton Gate.

The Robins returned from the international break with a disappointing 1-0 loss to Scott Parker's Clarets on Saturday, with Jaidon Anthony's first-half strike the difference between the two sides.

City had plenty of chances to secure a point, the best of which fell to Yu Hirakawa midway through the second half when the Japanese winger could only pick out James Trafford from close range after getting on the end of an excellent pass from Max Bird.

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However, the Reds saw appeals for a penalty waved away by Bobby Madley midway through the second half when the ball appeared to strike former City midfielder Josh Brownhill's arm inside the away side's box.

Although conditions meant that the ball skidded quickly across the turf, City boss Manning was of the opinion that the Reds would have been given a spot-kick if the same incident occurred last season.

"For me yeah [it was a handball]," Manning said after the full-time whistle. "I do feel a bit sorry for the officials because they change the definition of handball every summer so last year that gets given.

"When you look at the trajectory of his arm, the fact we've got a player arriving on the ball behind him. What infuriates me is then the fact that Zak Vyner smashes one at Jaidon Anthony two yards away at Jaidon Anthony that then gets given."

Although the 39-year-old was left infuriated by the inconsistent decision-making of the officials at Ashton Gate on Saturday, he did admit that the constant changing of regulations has made it harder for the men in the middle currently.

"For me, I don't think anyone knows and that's unfortunately the problem with the game," Manning said. "Every summer they're tweaking and changing things and like I say, I do feel sorry because when you're trying to get consistency across however many officials and you keep changing it every summer, I think it becomes very difficult.

"For me, yeah [it should have been a penalty]."

While City were denied a golden opportunity to level things up in the second half, they couldn't lay all the blame on the officials having spurned several excellent chances themselves. Jason Knight came close with a header in the opening exchanges and Anis Mehmeti will have felt that he should have found the net when his right-footed effort was deflected around the post in the first half.

The best chance of the game, however, was Hirakawa's second-half effort and although Manning was keen to praise Trafford's positioning between the posts, he admitted he felt that the Japanese winger's first touch had left him with far too much work to do in the visitor's penalty area.

"I thought the touch was a little bit heavy, which means he's then chasing it and ends up trying to lift it because of how close he was to the goalkeeper," the City boss explained. "He'll score those in the future, I have no doubt.

"We know his quality, I see it every day, we see it in games, so as I say it's disappointing today but of course, by the end of the season he'll score more of those than he misses."

Saturday's defeat saw the Reds miss the opportunity to close the gap to the playoff positions at the top of the Championship, but the games come thick and fast in the run-up to the festive period at Ashton Gate.

City travel to Vicarage Road to face Watford on Tuesday evening. The Hornets could only manage a stalemate with Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on Friday night and while Manning is relishing the chance to get back on the pitch, he insists that Tom Cleverly's side will provide the Robins with a tough test.

"Let's be clear it's a really hard place to go," said Manning. "Their form at home is excellent so we know that it's going to be another tough one but especially in this period coming up, you can't get too hung up.

"Do I like losing? No, I hate it, but ultimately when the lads have given everything and it's just a bit of quality against really strong opposition, you have to reflect on it and then park it really quickly because on Tuesday we have another one where we have to respond as a group and go and show what we're about."

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