Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett has admitted that he has sympathy for Nottingham Forest boss Stuart Pearce following the penalty which gave his side a dramatic late win on Saturday.
The Blues won 2-1 at St Andrews thanks to a late Paul Caddis spot kick, which was effectively awarded by the fourth official after Britt Assombalonga's handball was missed by the referee and his assistants.
Rowett has admitted that he would have been frustrated if the decision had gone against his team, pointing out that fourth officials would not intervene in such situations most of the time.
"We only badgered the fourth official once he had said 'that was a handball'. All we said to him at that point was that, if he thought it was a handball, then he had to tell the referee that," the Nottingham Post quotes Rowett as saying.
"I would be disappointed if it was given from so far away. But, after you have seen the replay, you can see that he has made the right decision. Stuart has been gracious about it. He just questioned how the fourth official could make that call when he was so far away and I can understand that completely.
"I can understand their frustration though, because very rarely do you see a fourth official who is brave enough to intervene in something like that. It was a big decision and I understand that frustration, from Forest's point of view because, 99 times out of 100, it would not have been given."
The victory has moved Birmingham up to 17th in the Championship table.
Steven Toplis
