Fulham manager Marco Silva laid into referee Tony Harrington for awarding Huddersfield a controversial penalty in a 2-1 win for Carlos Corberan’s visitors.
Duane Holmes converted from the spot to add to Danny Ward’s opener before Bobby De Cordova-Reid pulled one back for the Championship leaders, who lost in the league for the first time since December.
Silva, who was shown a yellow card during the match by Harrington, was convinced Fulham goalkeeper Marek Rodak had been harshly punished for a coming together with Sorba Thomas that resulted in the penalty award.
Indeed, the Portuguese argued that had it been Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic involved in a similar collision no action would have been taken, and that Fulham themselves were denied spot-kicks of their own, most notably late on when a header from Tosin Adarabioyo hit Jonathan Russell on an arm.
“We were the best team on the pitch, definitely,” Silva said. “They got a goal from a mistake from ourselves – the striker reacted quicker than our defender – and after the decisive moment of the match was the penalty.
“It was a clear mistake by the referee. It was never a penalty – the player fell on our goalkeeper and the decision was strange for me because it was a clear mistake. Marek didn’t do anything.
“It was tough for us to understand why. OK, I can make mistakes and the referee as well but it was so clear.
“We had a clear handball in the box that unfortunately the referee didn’t see – the linesman was in a good position and he didn’t see, it is strange for us.
“I don’t like to speak about referees when I lose but today this had a big impact. If that was a penalty I could find in the second half two or three penalties in their box.
“I am 100% sure that if it was ‘Mitro’ there who falls down on the goalkeeper it will not be a penalty. Even if it is a penalty they will not give.”
Huddersfield manager Corberan hailed his players’ “personality” for extending his side’s unbeaten run to 15 games in all competitions.
“For me the result was the consequence of a high level of personality from the players, ” Corberan said. “To come to this stadium and to achieve three points you can only do this with a lot of personality.
“Against teams like them you have to attack perfectly, and then defend perfectly. The mentality shown by the team was key.
“I put this win in context, we are playing against the best team in the league and away from home – so you can’t be more excited than that. But I get satisfaction from every win.
“Every player performed to a high level. In the first half, especially, we were very good and looked very balanced. And we got a result that the incredible effort deserved, that is the best thing. ”
The result consolidated Huddersfield’s position in the play-off slots and fuelled supporter hopes that a Premier League return that did not seem particularly likely at the start of the season is more than possible.
But Corberan added: “The result doesn’t tell me too much more about our promotion hopes because we have played more games than some of our rivals.”
