Town boss Kieran McKenna says the PGMOL, the body which manages referees, has admitted the Blues should have been awarded two penalties during Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with Leicester City.

Anis Mehmeti was tripped when turning away from Harry Winks in the 56th minute but referee John Busby waved away the protests.

Town had an even more clear-cut spot-kick denied by the official in the dying seconds when Hamza Choudhury bundled Cedric Kipre to the floor as a Dara O’Shea cross came in from the right.

McKenna was unusually forthright in his post-match comments, the referee, who had also denied the Blues two penalties in the final minutes of the 1-1 draw with Preston, having said he hadn’t seen the Kipre incident.

The Blues boss was asked whether the frustrations had died down since Saturday.

“Not just about the penalties, of course,” he said. “We want to win every game, especially a home game, so we’re frustrated that we didn’t manage to do that in all capacities. 

“I think we’ve done enough in the game to win it, certainly, but we gave away a set play goal. It’s probably only a half-chance, but it was a really good finish. We weren’t clinical with our set plays or with enough of our chances in free play.

“Of course, we all know those bits, but also, there’s no getting away from it, for me, watching them back and having clarity from the officials now, they were two clear penalties. 

“One that’s an absolute 100 per cent penalty that we should have been a kick to win the game, and then it could be really different.

“We’re frustrated that we didn’t get to win, but we also know there are positives out there in the performance and there’s no time to dwell, either way.

“We just move on now quickly to Stoke. We’ll train well and prepare as well as we can, and try to get a good performance tomorrow night.”

McKenna says his assistant Martyn Pert spoke to former referee Kevin Friend, who is now the manager of Select Group 2 officials.

“Martyn spoke to Kevin Friend, who conducts that at this level,” he added. “Martyn and him caught up yesterday and there’s a full admission that there should have been two penalties, one on Anis and certainly the one at the end. They’re disappointed from the officials that it wasn’t given. Of course, it doesn’t change anything now.”

Traditionally the view is that these things even themselves out over the course of the season.

“I think we’re going to need some pretty good evidence in the next 11 games for that to be the case!” McKenna smiled ruefully.

“I try and stay pragmatic about it and control what we can control. I’ve said before, I’m not the first one to be shouting about VAR and things like that, so if you’re not in that camp then you don’t want to be hypocritical and be screaming for every decision.

“But there are some that really, really disappoint you beyond the norm of ’anyone can make a mistake, it’s a hard job’ and that was one of them, and it was such a pivotal point in the game and not a particularly difficult decision.

“I think that was more disappointing than most. But one thing we certainly can’t afford is that that decision drags on in our mood or our morale or anything like that.

“There are things to learn from the game, certainly positives to take and it’s about how we quickly turn our mindset to Tuesday night that’s going to be the most important thing this week.”

Town have shown in recent weeks that they can come back from adversity, having won three in a row after the back-to-back FA Cup and Championship defeats at Wrexham and are now four matches without a loss as disappointing as Saturday’s stalemate was.

“It’s not always about a reaction,” McKenna reflected. “I understand why it is, but it’s not always about a reaction.

“It’s not like tomorrow night now is a reaction to the game, it’s 46 games, you’re not going to play well or win every one.

“We got a disappointing result at Wrexham, it’s one of our losses this season and then we had to regroup and just get back to doing what we do well. 

“That’ll be the same case for this. I think, in general, our form is good, we want and maybe need it to be even better than good.

“And the only way to do that is focusing on the next game and delivering performances and trying to find the margin to get you the results, and the next chance to do that is Tuesday.”

Photo: TWTD