Di Matteo: ´Absolutely´ a penalty

West Bromwich Albion manager Roberto di Matteo was fuming his side was not awarded a penalty in their 2-0 defeat at Blackburn on Sunday.

Rovers’ Jermaine Jones fouled Peter Odemwingie close to the edge of the penalty box on 68 minutes, but referee Mark Clattenburg adjudged that the Hawthorns striker was felled outside of the area.

Di Matteo disagreed.

“Yeah absolutely (it was a penalty), it was quite clear from where I was standing that the foul was inside (the box),” the Italian told Sky Sports.

The Albion boss said his side did not deserve to trail at half-time by a Gabriel Tamas own-goal, but conceded Albion did not maintain their form following the break and some poor defending allowed Junior Hoilett to score Rovers’ second.

“Before we conceded the first I thought we defended quite well, we were quite solid,” he said.

“At 1-0 down at half-time we were still in the game, but the way we came out in the second half was very disappointing.”

Blackburn manager Steve Kean heaped praise on goalkeeper Paul Robinson for keeping a clean sheet at Ewood Park.

“He was outstanding, absolutely outstanding. He’s a top class goalie. He’s really at the top of his game at the moment,” Kean said.