Alan Tate laid into Mike Dean after the official's late decision to award Cardiff a penalty in the Welsh derby

The Swansea City vice captain was bitterly disappointed to see the side denied a victory at Ninian Park thanks to the late decision to award the home side a penalty for a push on Ross McCormack.

Tate had - along with his team mates - believed that Joe Allen had given the Swans a valuable road victory and bragging rights thanks to his 87th minute strike.

But it was not to be and Tate fumed after the game to the Western Mail “The ref has bottled it, there’s no two ways about it.

“We said before the game we wanted a ref that could withstand the pressure of their crowd. And, to be fair, I think he got most of the decisions right and had a good game until then.

“But he got the major one wrong. If they went 2-1 up and we had that appeal there’s no way we would have got a penalty.

“If that challenge is made elsewhere on the pitch it’s not even a free-kick. You just want consistency but he has buckled under the pressure of the fans.

“At the end of the day he has taken a hard-earned victory from us. That is very hard for us to take.

“Only the ref knows why he gave it. If he comes out and holds his hands up then fair play but I doubt he will.

“You can complain until you are blue in the face about it. But there’s nothing he can do now anyway.

“It was such a high from when Joe scored to such a low when they got the penalty,” he explained. “It’s even harder when you know it was the referee and not them that took it away.

“They hadn’t earned the goal with decent play. It was through a penalty that shouldn’t have been and a poor decision from the ref.

“I always come out a minute before the rest of the lads,” he explained. “I have done it for years now, no matter where we are.

“I enjoyed being out there by myself. It was good.

“I enjoyed the game. I felt I played well and that always helps. If you got that amount of stick and didn’t play well it is a different story.

“But everyone played well so it was a good experience, especially after the second goal when the crowd was so quiet.

“If you don’t want to play in an atmosphere like that then you’re in the wrong game. And our fans were excellent all day.

“I just feel sorry for them that the win was taken away by a weak decision right at the end. But we have the bragging rights because we were the only team to win a derby this season.”

Tate's comments were taken from the Wales Online website - you can view a full version of the article by visiting http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballnation/swansea-city-fc/2009/04/06/referee-bottled-it-giving-bluebirds-that-late-penalty-tate-91466-23318942/

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