Ben Parker says he spoke to Middlesbrough captain Jonny Howson after Leeds United’s 3-2 win over the Teesside club and said the Leeds academy star was left fuming at the penalty decision.
Howson, 35, is showing no signs of slowing down as he continues to impress in a Boro shirt. He is now approaching seven years at The Riverside, eight games shy of a huge 300 in all competitions for them.
The midfielder has clocked up a whopping 705 club appearances in his career and you would imagine he has a good few years left in him, yet. Of course, 188 of those came for Leeds – 43 goals and assists.
He saw out 90 minutes at Elland Road during our 3-2 win, booked after 37 minutes when Leeds were awarded a penalty. Matt Clarke, who came off the bench a minute beforehand, gave away a penalty.
Georginio Rutter escaped his presence before lining up a shot, only for Clarke to put him off by trying to tap tackle him. Joel Piroe scored and Parker told LS11 that Howson lost his head, at getting a yellow.
“I was speaking to Jonny Howson after the game, he got booked for complaining to the referee after the penalty. He said ‘my head went for the next 10 minutes, because how was that a penalty?’,” Parker said.
“He did pull him back, it was a penalty all day long. He said, he only said to the referee that he slipped twice, didn’t go crazy at him but got a yellow card. Thanks for the pen, Jonny,” Parker added on LS11.
Ben Parker spoke to Jonny Howson after Leeds win over Boro
It was without doubt, a penalty. It put Rutter off balance and if the Frenchman had gone down without taking a shot, it would have been a stone wall one. To his credit, he tried to stay on his feet and shoot.
But, it completely threw him off and he looked uncomfortable trying to take the shot. A penny for the thoughts of Michael Carrick, who had just brought Clarke on, to see him immediately concede a pen.
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