Furious Birmingham boss accuses officials of ‘guessing’ decision after goal controversially not given

Wait 5 sec.

Birmingham boss Chris Davies gave a furious post-match interview after his side had a goal wrongly disallowed in their defeat to Ipswich.The Blues fell at a 2-1 loss away to the Tractor Boys, who fought back from a goal down to climb to second in the Championship table.GettyBirmingham fell to a sixth defeat in eight games in controversial fashion against Ipswich[/caption]After Carlos Vicente grabbed the opener, Ben Johnson and Kasey McAteer quickly responded to fire Ipswich ahead before half time.It looked as though Birmingham had levelled things up after the interval when Ibrahim Osman’s cross went in off Dara O’Shea.However, the goal wasn’t given, as the linesman raised his flag after judging the ball to have crossed the by-line before Osman played the ball.This proved a controversial decision, with replays and stills of the goal appearing to show that the ball didn’t fully go out of play.‘Absolutely furious’Despite pushing hard for an equaliser, Birmingham were unable to find a second goal, and left Portman Road empty-handed.Blues boss Davies was still furious about the disallowed goal in his post-match interview, as he took aim at the official behind the call.Speaking to talkSPORT afterwards, he raged: “The ball had not gone out of play and that was a legitimate goal, and I am absolutely furious that the linesman has made that decision. “He cannot see that ball and the ball is still in. You can see it on the video. “So he’s guessed and he’s cost a team that deserved, at the very least from that game, a draw. And he’s guessed.“The ball was in play. We scored a legitimate goal and it’s been cancelled out.”View Tweet: https://twitter.com/hashtag/bcfc?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwDavies could only watch on angrily as his side were controversially denied a second goalGettyContinuing to argue his side had been robbed, Davies added: “For me it’s so, so frustrating.“When you come to a place like this against one of the best teams in the league, you put all that into it and you carve yourself a chance and for a linesman who’s 60 yards away to guess, and then you find out the ball is actually in play, it’s very hard to take.”Asked whether he had spoken to the linesman in question, Davies said the official had claimed to be certain about their decision.He revealed: “I asked the linesman as soon as the whistle went and he said to me: ‘I can assure you the ball was out of play. I would not make that decision unless I knew that the ball was out of play.’”Insisting he had watched footage showing the ball had not crossed the line, Davies added: “I’ve seen as close as you can get and it’s not out of play. “So I’m not sure why he gave me that information when I asked him the question.”GettyOsman was in disbelief after he was judged not to have kept the ball in play[/caption]Blues hit back on social mediaDespite being left seething with the controversial call, Davies revealed Birmingham would not be taking the matter any further.And the English coach wasn’t the only person seemingly left baffled by the decision to disallow the goal.During the match, the Blues appeared to fire a cheeky dig at the call via their official X account.Announcing the goal had been disallowed in an initial post, the club wrote: “Blues have it in the net but the linesman rules that the ball went out in the build-up.”Minutes later, the club then responded with a picture of Osman appearing to keep the ball in play, with the caption: “Hmmmm…”View Tweet: https://t.co/a8WGIzSXBNThe crushing defeat was yet another blow for Davies’ Birmingham, who have now lost six of their last eight games.Despite a difficult run of form, the Second City side sit 12 points clear of the Championship relegation zone, occupying 16th place.