Chris Hughton surprised by "soft" penalty decision

By Callum Mulvihill, Reporter | 25 August 2012

Norwich city manager Chris Hughton reveals his anger at the penalty decision that cost his side victory against Queens Park Rangers.

Chris Hughton has voiced his anger at the "soft" penalty that prevented his Norwich City side from recording a win over Queens Park Rangers.

Bobby Zamora scored from a saved Djibril Cisse penalty but Hughton has defended Sebastian Bassong's challenge on the French striker and suggested that Zamora encroached as the spot kick was taken.

"I'm quite sure their camp will say something different but it's a soft penalty. Cisse was stretching for the ball and his momentum would have taken him down anyway," Hughton told BBC Sport.

"I accept Seb didn't touch the ball. The double whammy is the pen itself. On the referee's side Bobby Zamora is at least three yards in the box which gives him an advantage."

However, Cisse has rejected Hughton's claims and insisted that he did feel contact from Bassong.

The QPR forward said: "I think it was a penalty. There's contact. I've not seen the video. The referee decided to agree with the goal. I don't know if Bobby was in or out because I was too busy trying to score my penalty."

The draw yielded the first point of the season for both sides in the Premier League this season.