Notts County boss Ian Burchnall admits penalty against Chesterfield was not 'clear-cut'

Notts County boss Ian Burchnall admitted his side’s penalty in the 1-1 draw against Chesterfield was not ‘100 per cent clear-cut.’
Notts County manager Ian Burchnall.Notts County manager Ian Burchnall.
Notts County manager Ian Burchnall.

Alex Whittle, who gave the Spireites the lead on 13 minutes, was penalised for a foul on Ruben Rodrigues and Kyle Wootton scored the resulting spot-kick just before half-time.

Burchnall said: "I only saw it in real time and I thought he (Whittle) went to the floor a little bit early and caught Ruben. I haven’t seen it again. My instinct thought he (referee Lewis Smith) was going to give it. I can understand why maybe people think it could go either way because it was not 100 per cent clear-cut. But if you go to ground in the area and the other player gets a touch on the ball there is always that risk I guess.”

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And Town had a strong penalty shout of their own when Tom Whelan was shoved over in the box in the second-half, a decision manager Paul Cook was ‘disappointed’ with.

Burchnall said: “I think they had a penalty shout in the second-half and they probably feel aggrieved by that, certainly Paul (Cook) did on the touchline. He was angry. He looked pretty furious and it was a fair shout.”

Wootton had a glorious chance to win it but his close-range header clipped the crossbar and went over, which Burchnall said was a ‘big’ opportunity.

Overall, the Magpies boss thought it was ‘maybe’ a fair result.

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"I thought we edged the game, certainly in the second-half, I thought we were the more aggressive team,” he added.

"I thought we had some good attacking moments. They (Chesterfield) hit the post through Calvin (Miller) and they had a bit of a penalty shout.

"They are a very good team.

"I was happy with a large part of the performance.

"I thought it was a fairly even start, their goal rattled us a little bit, we struggled a little bit after that. I thought they were on top then.

"In the second-half I thought we were the better team, I thought we were in control of the game. They caught us a few times on the counter-attack.”