Big decisions went against Norwich – Neil

Alex Neil was left frustrated after a series of controversial decisions went against his Norwich City side in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace, but refused to blame referee Simon Hooper for the defeat.

Goals either side of half-time from Wilfried Zaha and Damien Delaney put Palace in control but Nathan Redmond struck a fine goal before Cameron Jerome saw an equaliser harshly ruled out for offside.

Sebastien Bassong was then denied a penalty in injury time and Yohan Cabaye rubbed salt in the wounds with a late third, leaving Neil to lament a string of calls he felt went against him.

“It [Jerome’s disallowed goal] is disappointing,” he said. “I think if the lad was going to be potentially hurt by Cameron’s leg then, yeah, it’s a foul but I don’t think that’s the case.

“The lad was the wrong side of Cameron. His boots or studs are in no danger of hurting the lad, I was disappointed it was disallowed.

“I’m not going to sit here and criticise the referee, they’ve got a difficult job. But it affects the game, it affects you getting a point or potentially three points. It’s extremely frustrating.”

“It was a fantastic goal from Cameron, he’s done extremely well to put it in from that situation and should have been rewarded with a goal, but unfortunately on this case it wasn’t to be.

“I tried to speak to him [the referee] but I’m not going to gain anything from that and I like I say there’s no point in criticising him now.”

On the decision not to award Bassong a penalty, Neil added: “By all accounts Seb should have had a penalty so I hear.”