Ipswich Town manager Paul Lambert watched on as his side suffered a defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday.
Paul Lambert has claimed that the Aston Villa crowd were ‘edgy’ and referee Keith Stroud made a number of ‘shocking’ decisions after Ipswich suffered yet another defeat in the Championship.
In-form striker Tammy Abraham netted a brace, including a second-half penalty to record a much-needed three points for Dean Smith’s side [BBC Sport] in their race for promotion.
After the match, Lambert, who was returning to Villa Park for the first time since his sacking in 2015, felt his team ‘dominated the ball’ as he offered his thoughts on the crowd.
“You look at the size of the clubs,” Lambert told Ipswich’s official Twitter account. “Everything about it. You are asking me if it was a tough game against us? We played really well and dominated the ball.
“They were edgy the crowd, which I know happens here – both decisions are shocking.”
The two decisions Lambert was referring to was Alan Judge’s foul on John McGinn in the penalty area, with the Ipswich player pulling back the Villa man just as he was about to ghost in front of him following a corner.
The other was centre-back Tommy Elphick’s handball, with the ball hitting the hand of the Villa centre-back as he slid in to prevent the away team from finding the back of the net.
During the match, Abraham opened the scoring after six minutes following a set-piece situation before he doubled his side’s lead in the second half from the penalty spot.
The Tractor Boys did pull one back through Freddie Sears’ long-range effort, but it wasn’t enough for the Championship’s bottom-of-the-table club.
Nonetheless, the win for Villa means that they climb three places up the table and are now four points behind the play-off places, having played a game more than a number of the sides above them.
For Lambert and his team, they face a tough task in staying in the second tier of English football because they are seven points from safety.
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