adminMiddlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg was adamant his side deserved to win at Portman Road this afternoon – and slammed the late penalty which allowed Ipswich Town to rescue a draw.
Boro looked like they’d done enough to secure a huge three points in Suffolk, but referee Jarred Gillett pointed to the spot in the 87th minute after George Hirst was grappled by Boro defender Adilson Malanda as he chased a cross through the box.
Jack Clarke kept his cool to fire home from the spot, rescuing what could prove to be a vital point for the Blues and moving them back up to second in the Championship table.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Hellberg criticised the decision.
“I think over the 90 minutes we were better than them and I think we should have won the game,” he insisted.
The pen is… he decides to make a pen out of it. He makes a pen out of it. What should I say? You have seen it 200 times.
“In some context you can defend a little bit better, Adi (Malanda) takes a little bit of risk. If that risk was enough for penalties all the time, there would be many, many penalties.
“I don’t think it is a penalty, but you take a risk as a defender.”
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Asked if he’d spoke to the match officials about it, he replied: “Not yet. I think we did a very good game, I want to be very proud of the game. I think we fought through a lot of tough challenges through the game.
“I think they were a little bit better in the first half, I think we were much better in the second half.
“I think overall we created more great chances than them, I’m very, very proud of the players – they had all control.”
Hellberg described his side’s display as ‘brilliant’, continuing: “I think again we had a tough period in the first half, we had to fight through a little bit, when they were very, very good.
“We played a brilliant team, good coach, a lot of good players, a lot of good players coming in from the bench. It’s a very good team, it’s a tough place to be at.
“I’m just proud that we go and play these type of games, we have a tough result and still we look like the way we want to look against a very good team. That’s tough to do here.”
Asked if he was now preparing for the play-offs, with Boro three points behind Town with only three games left, he stressed: “I’m preparing for the next game, that’s what I’m trying to do, turn around and go again.
“We’re trying to improve all the time and of course that’s a tough job.
“I will try to win the next game and then we’ll see what happens. We need to keep winning games and trying to keep playing like this and improve.
“It’s important to get some players back, that’s the main focus and then we’ll see – but of course as everyone understands, it will be difficult to get second, it’s a simple math to do.”
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