Liam Rosenior claims the referee was ‘swayed’ by Aston Villa crowd following penalty decision against Bristol City

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Aston Villa’s promotion charge continued as they have now won eight games on the bounce in the league for the first time since 1975.

Sky Sports pundit Liam Rosenior has suggested that referee Scott Duncan was ‘swayed’ by the ‘vocal’ Aston Villa crowd after he gave the home team a penalty during their 2-1 win over Bristol City.

Dean Smith’s side made it eight wins on the bounce on Saturday afternoon, with Tammy Abraham opening the scoring via the penalty spot and Conor Hourihane finishing off a cute move started by Anwar El Ghazi.

Opposition defender Jack Hunt was adjudged to have pushed Conor Hourihane when John McGinn crossed the ball in the penalty area, with the referee awarding the spot-kick and Abraham cooly slotting home.

Speaking to EFL Championship Goals on Sky Sports Football (13/04/2019 at 8:10 pm), Rosenior felt that penalty was ‘soft’ as he made a claim about the sold-out Villa Park crowd.

“It seems soft,” Rosenior told Sky Sports. “The only way I can defend the referee a touch is the position Jack Hunt’s in because it’s not ball side. I think it’s quite theatrical and soft. But when you make a challenge and you’re not the side of the ball that you can attack, you give the referee a decision to make.

“And when you are playing the way Aston Villa are, vocal ground, it’s always a difficult place to go for the away team and sometimes referees are swayed by that.”

Before Abraham opened the scoring, Villa should have been streets ahead of their promotion-chasing opponents because they missed a number of guilt-edge opportunities.

Bristol City goalkeeper Max O’Leary saved a Hourihane header from point-blank range in the first-half, while Adomah missed an open goal by hitting the post following El Ghazi’s shot from outside of the area.

Mile Jedinak saw his header cleared off the line, O’Leary made a double save in the second half, including stopping Hourihane’s shot from point-blank range again, whilst Keinan Davis and McGinn saw a number of their efforts saved by the opposition shot-stopper.