Phil Parkinson seethes at ‘nothing’ penalty as Bradford knock out Wrexham

Phil Parkinson branded Bradford’s penalty a “nothing incident” as he expressed frustration at the officials in their Carabao Cup second-round exit but was pleased with his Wrexham players.

Tyler Smith’s spot-kick inside three minutes put Bradford ahead but Will Boyle’s header took the game to a shoot-out.

Mark Howard saved Dan Oyegoke’s effort, but Luke Young missed and Harry Lewis saved James Jones’s penalty as the Bantams won 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

Parkinson was frustrated with the decision to penalise Aaron Hayden’s challenge on Jamie Walker and doubted if referee Ben Speedie saw the incident.

He said: “For an absolutely nothing incident, the ref has given a penalty. He’s got four players in between him and the incident and he’s told me it was him who gave it, but there is absolutely no way he can see it so he’s clearly guessed.

“The linesman has got the best view of all and is mic’d up and is supposed to communicate and the officials are supposed to work as a team. I feel a little bit aggrieved by how that decision has come about, but we have to take it on the chin and we had to respond and I thought the lads responded really well.”

Bradford boss Mark Hughes said: “I think apart from one good save in the first half when Harry saved with his shins and the goal, we tried to keep that one out but it’s difficult with the big lads and we were lacking a little bit of size and weight tonight, but I thought the lads were excellent.

“In my view we fully deserved to win the game in normal time. Obviously you worry when you get to penalties because it can go either way but it was the right result.”