Cardiff penalty upset Boothroyd

Jones: Felt penalty decision was right

Dave Jones and Coventry counterpart Aidy Boothroyd held contrasting opinions on Cardiff's 2-1 victory at the Ricoh Arena.

Peter Whittingham gave second-placed Cardiff the lead with a fifth-minute penalty after Ben Turner appeared to tug back Michael Chopra from Craig Bellamy's cross.

Gary McSheffrey drew Coventry level a minute before the break but Jay Bothroyd pounced three minutes from time to give the visitors their third straight win and cut the gap at the top of the Championship table to two points.

Boothroyd felt hard done by with the penalty decision, with referee James Linington awarding the spot-kick after being notified by his assistant, but Jones believes Turner was lucky not to be sent off.

"We've seen it on the video at half-time, it's definitely a penalty," said the Cardiff boss.

"To me personally it's a yellow card but the rules state if the striker's facing goal and he gets dragged back then you go off.

"But the referee said he wasn't sure whether he was going to put it in the net. So you figure that one out.

"I thought we deserved to win it," he added. "I thought it was a throwback to the old days when you've got to defend your box from wherever the ball is going to come in from.

"They're a strong side and they play to their strengths, we had to match that.

"It was a good three points for us. But there's a long, long way to go."

The result was tough on a Coventry side who more than matched their high-flying opponents throughout but lacked the same firepower as the Bluebirds.

Too much respect

"Early on we showed them far too much respect, we weren't the only ones who were showing them respect but that's for another day and a letter to the referees people," said Boothroyd.

"It wasn't a penalty at all, it's very, very soft. But that's me done, don't ask me any more questions about referees or I'll get myself a fine and I haven't got enough money."

Asked whether he was aggrieved with the overall result, he replied: "I was, yes. I thought although it was probably an entertaining game for the neutral, it was a lesson for us really.

"I said the two games - Ipswich and Cardiff - would be a gauge and it tells us that we've come a very long way in a short space of time, but to get to where we want to get to, we're just that little bit off at the moment.

"But the exciting thing is we've got the players and the attitude to do it, now it's just about doing it."