Patrick Bamford has told the Leeds United podcast that the referee explained in the tunnel why he didn’t give a penalty against Aston Villa’s Matt Targett in Marcelo Bielsa’s side’s last game.
Bamford went down in the box during the second half as Leeds took on Villa, and appealed for a spot kick, but Peter Bankes waved their appeals away.
On reflection, Bamford admits that he didn’t think it was a penalty.
However, at the time, he felt the offence was worthy of a spot kick – especially as the referee had warned Targett previously.
And the Leeds striker said: “Do you know what? With the penalty at the end, the whole thing – I don’t think it was a penalty personally.
“But before, when the ref brought us together, he said to Targett ‘stop, if you keep doing that it’s going to be a penalty’.
“All I did was make sure that he had to grab me again and basically nudge me down.
“I just went down thinking the ref said that if he does that again it’s a penalty and he didn’t give it.
“After the game I wanted to speak to him and he was saying he didn’t want to speak in front of the cameras, which was fair enough.
“He was honest and he spoke to me in the tunnel and he was honest about his views on it, and he took his time to actually come and speak which not a lot of refs do.”
In the end it proved a frustrating evening for Leeds, as they could not find the back of the net against Villa.
Bielsa’s men were left frustrated, as they fell to 1-0 defeat against Dean Smith’s side thanks to an early goal from Anwar El Ghazi.
The loss means that Leeds have sunk down to 11th place in the Premier League table.
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