Bolton manager Owen Coyle believes referee Mark Clattenburg's failure to give the Trotters a "stonewall" penalty led to their 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.Clattenburg awarded Tottenham two early spot-kicks, then booked Bolton's Gary Cahill for diving after he appeared to be tripped by Benoit Assou-Ekotto.
"It was a stonewall penalty. The lad's left his leg out and Gary's tried to step over him," said Coyle.
"It was 1-1 then; this is a good result that has been taken away from us."
Rafael van der Vaart's spot-kick had put Tottenham ahead and the Dutchman then missed a second penalty, which he was forced to retake after converting his first attempt.
Daniel Sturridge levelled for Bolton and soon after, Cahill went down in the penalty box under Assou-Ekotto's challenge. But Clattenburg showed the Bolton defender a yellow card for simulation.
"To compound that and say that Gary Cahill was cheating in trying to gain an advantage of a penalty, that's one thing that lad would never do," said Coyle.
"In the second half we were terrific and scored a good equaliser and at 1-1 we were well placed to go on and win the game. But for that not to be given…"
Redknapp lauds 'good professional' Kranjcar
Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp, whose side move level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea, appeared to have some sympathy with Coyle.
"From where I was sat I thought the ref had given a penalty. It might well have been a penalty. If it was a penalty we've got away with it," said Redknapp.
Niko Kranjcar scored a spectacular winner in injury time, which justified Redknapp's decision to reject a transfer-window bid from German club Werder Bremen for the Croatian midfielder.
"He didn't want to move and I didn't want to push him out. He trains hard, he has a great attitude, he doesn't spit his dummy out when he is not in the side and you need good people. He trains every day as if his life depends on it," Redknapp said.
The former Portsmouth and West Ham manager also questioned the referee's decision to rule out Van der Vaart's penalty for encroachment in the box.
"How many times do you see a penalty retaken? You would retake every penalty if you looked at that too carefully," said Redknapp.
Source: BBC Sport
Source: BBC Sport