Neil Warnock accused Mo Salah of diving like “Tom Daley” to win Liverpool’s penalty.
Warnock did not dispute Martin Atkinson giving a spot kick after Cardiff defender Sean Morrison grappled with Salah but was unhappy with the Liverpool forward’s theatrical fall to the ground and likened it to the Olympic diver.
Cardiff boss Warnock, who also claimed Morrison should have had a penalty at the other end after having his shirt pulled by Andy Robertson, said: “I thought it was a soft one. We gave him an opportunity, didn’t we? He’s got his arms round him and everything.
“But I think the end of it was a 9.9 Tom Daley job. I don’t think he could have got much higher off the diving board at the end of it.
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“But I’m sure you’ll be saying Warnock is a moaning so and so again. I think just after half time, the tug on Morrison’s shirt which should have been spotted when, Graeme Souness says by the letter of the law it should be a penalty because it stops him making a clear header at goal.
“But nothing much said about that. We’ve not had any of those. He’s been pulled from pillar to post has Morrison and we’ve not had a penalty so we’re not going to start getting them getting now.
“It’s a fabulous Premier League title race because both sides are unbelievable. I felt we could get something but one slack bit of marking at a corner and that’s the quality they’ve got really.”
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Warnock’s battlers gave title-chasing Liverpool a scare and the Cardiff manager insists they will keep going right until the end as he praised their spirit.
Warnock added: “We’ve made it interesting. People said Brighton was our last game in the Premier League so it was nice to surprise them and we’ll have to surprise them again.
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“We’ve got over the 11 points target at the start of the season and who is to say what’s round the corner in the Premier League. It’s a fabulous league.
“We’ve got such a good group, we started with nine our of 11 from the Championship from last year against a team without a weakness which has spent something like £400m. We’ve done really well and given them a game.”
