Rodgers rues penalty decision

Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers criticised referee Howard Webb’s decision not to award his side a penalty in their 2-0 loss to Stoke City.

First-half headers from Matthew Upson and Peter Crouch saw Stoke claim their first win in the Premier League since January 2 and helped them leapfrog their opponents into 12th place in the table.

Swansea dominated play at various points in the game, but lacklustre attacking and undisciplined defending saw them loose their second consecutive game.

Rodgers however believed his side should have a chance to get a goal back from the spot after striker Danny Graham was pulled back in the box by Glenn Whelan, but was told a penalty was not given because the striker had not gone to ground.

“I was disappointed we never got a penalty, I was told by one of my players that we didn’t get it because we didn’t go down,” Rodgers told reporters.

“We try to respect the rules of the game and honesty and we actually get penalised because he (Graham) was honest, if he goes down he’ll probably get the penalty.”

“We want to win the game by fair means and it’s disappointing that if he goes down or fall over, like many players do, he’ll get the penalty, but because he stayed on his feet he didn’t get it and that’s that sad nature of it.”

Stoke boss Tony Pulis meanwhile praised a the performance from his players and was happy not to see them fall prey to Swansea’s tactics.

“Credit to Brendan Rodgers and his coaching staff, they’re a very hard side to play because they keep the ball and they’re very patient at the back and they make teams frustrated and lose their shape,” Pulis told reporters.

“So we had to make sure that we stayed compact and we worked our socks off and I thought the effort and the commitment of the players was absolutely first-class.”

“It’s very important that we get the points on the board as quickly as we can, it’s a tough league and as soon as you take your foot off and think you’ve got a right to be in this league that’s the time to get packing and get out.”