Sunday 30 November 2014 09:27, UK
Swansea manager Garry Monk refused to criticise referee Martin Atkinson’s awarding of a contentious penalty which helped Crystal Palace grab a 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium.
In-form striker Wilfried Bony had opened the scoring in South Wales with a well-worked strike from the edge of the box, but just over 10 minutes later Mile Jedinak converted from the spot after Atkinson adjudged Jonjo Shelvey to have brought down Marouane Chamakh.
Swansea began the game in typical fashion, establishing possession from the off and dominating the opening exchanges. But Monk’s side failed to capitalise on their dominance and, after the penalty was fired home, the spoils were shared.
He’s given a penalty and we have to deal with it. The mistake before that corner came in was us giving the ball away up in our half so that’s something we have to eradicate.
While Monk debated the integrity of the decision, he stopped short at blaming his side's inability to claim three points solely on the awarding of the spot-kick.
“The footage that I’ve seen has been inconclusive it’s hard to tell really to be honest,” Monk told Sky Sports.
"From the views that we have, in terms of the coming together of legs, there doesn’t seem to be any contact with the legs whatsoever in terms of Jonjo’s legs and Chamakh’s, it seems more of an upper body (challenge). The referee signalled that it was a taking away of the legs but it’s inconclusive for me.
“He’s given a penalty and we have to deal with it. The mistake before that corner came in was us giving the ball away up in our half so that’s something we have to eradicate because that was the only chance they were really going to get from us.”
Swansea were left to rue a number of missed opportunities but Palace’s resurgence towards the end of the game denied the Welsh side the chance to take all three points.
But Monk argued his side performances throughout the game warranted more than a solitary point, with the former Swans defender singling out a short lapse where his side allowed visitors route back into the game.
“I think apart from 10 minutes in the first half we controlled the whole game,” Monk added.
“We had our chances and probably couldn’t quite stick them away and get the second goal. Obviously it then becomes difficult and they practically had everyone on their 18-yard box and it’s hard to break down.
“We had two or three good chances through Gylfi (Sigurdsson) and Shelvey had a couple of chances, but it wasn’t to be so the ball didn’t go in and we have to take the point.
“Today’s was a great opportunity and we were the better team by far but we couldn’t put the ball in the net, but you get those games sometimes we’ll have to go again on Tuesday.
“I just reminded the boys there it’s a quick turnover and we can’t dwell on that it’s still a point towards where we want to go, we would have liked the three but it wasn’t to be today.”
