Sean Dyche believed the outcome of Burnley’s draw with Birmingham hinged on two decisions on what he described as “an interesting day for the referee” at Turf Moor.
Birmingham had gone ahead through Jon Toral in the 10th minute, the midfielder on a season-long loan from Arsenal firing across the Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton after Clayton Donaldson had headed on Tomasz Kuszczak’s long clearance.
Burnley came out firing in the second half and were level within six minutes when Michael Keane headed home from close range after Jelle Vossen had touched on Michael Kightly’s free-kick from the left.
Birmingham regained the lead 12 minutes later through what appeared to be a harsh penalty. Donaldson was being marshalled by Keane in the box where he was joined by Tendayi Darikwa and although there appeared to be little if any contact that sent the striker to the ground, the referee, David Coote, pointed to the spot.
Paul Caddis powered home but again Burnley were equal to the task as Matthew Taylor – less than three minutes after coming on as substitute – curled home a left-footed free-kick that left Kuszczak rooted to his line with nine minutes left.
Dyche felt his side had done enough to win the game and pointed to the influence of the referee. Not only did he question the Birmingham penalty but he also pointed to an incident early in the game when Lukas Jutkiewicz went down in the area under the close attention of Jonathan Spector as Ben Mee swung a ball over from the left with Coote unmoved.
The Burnley manager said: “To be honest, the whole game, I think, would have been considerably different on a decision, unfortunately. I don’t like to talk about it when it is that blatant on Jutkiewicz – it’s unfathomable to me to have someone pulled down.
“I was a defender and the defender’s panicked, basically, and he has pulled him down and it’s not only a penalty but he goes off the pitch just by the nature of the rules.”
Dyche added: “In the second half we were much better: much more energy, much more fluency to the play and we created enough chances to win the game.
“Then you have the contentious other penalty where their lad quite simply runs in an unnatural manner and stands on our lad’s toes trying to get out of the way and goes down, and he gives a penalty. So two big decisions go against us today. It was an interesting day for the referee.”
Birmingham were well on top in the first half, David Cotterill hitting the post with a left-footed shot and Stephen Gleeson forcing Heaton into a fingertip save from his long-range half-volley.
Gary Rowett has now guided his side to a win and a draw in their opening two league games in what has been an interesting week for Birmingham, whose former owner Carson Yeung has been granted bail in Hong Kong and given leave to challenge his conviction for money laundering.
“I said to the players I’m so proud of their work ethic and how they’ve played, how they’ve coped with the pressure of coming to Burnley. I’m sure one or two teams will get washed away here in the first 10-15 minutes,” said Rowett.
“I thought we showed great composure. One or two better decisions in the final third and we could have added to our goal tally. In the second half you know they are going to put you under pressure. Overall, I thought we dealt with that well.
“I’m disappointed with the first goal. I felt it was a cheap free-kick that the lad bought on the wing – I’d have to see it again.
“The referee at times needed to be stronger in those areas. Burnley did what they were very good at. I’m not disappointed with a point, but there’s a little part of me that felt we might have got the three.”
