Mark Clattenburg gives verdict on whether Ipswich Town should have been awarded penalty vs Birmingham City

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The Championship season returned on Friday evening with two promotion contenders, Ipswich Town and Birmingham City, facing off.

After dominating League One, Birmingham City made their return to the second tier of English football on August 8.

Chris Davies’ side were handed a tricky opening day fixture, taking on the recently-relegated Ipswich Town.

The Blues more than held their own in their first Championship game in over a year, with Kyogo Furuhashi earning high praise from fans.

League One’s record signing Jay Stansfield put the hosts in front after 55 minutes, and they looked set to see out the 90 with a 1-0 goal lead, earning what would have been a statement win.

Mark Clattenburg verdict on Ipswich Town penalty

However, Ipswich were handed a lifeline in injury time when referee Andrew Kitchen spotted an alleged handball from striker Lyndon Dykes.

George Hirst stepped up to score a 95th-minute equaliser from the spot.

Now, EFL Analysis has spoken exclusively to former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg for his thoughts on the penalty.

He said: “Sure this is a penalty. To be consistent, a referee has to follow some criteria.

“When a player jumps with his arm or hand above his shoulder, this seems an unnatural action and therefore if the ball hits the arm in this position, a penalty should be awarded.

“The action of the defender knows what he is doing and runs the risk.”

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies comments on Ipswich penalty

After converting from 12 yards, Hirst revealed one Birmingham player said it was ‘a rubbish penalty’.

Blues boss Davies commented on the penalty when speaking to Sky Sports post-match, suggesting it was ‘really harsh’.

He said: “Well, I’ve sort of seen the video back and it’s really harsh.

“I think you could go around the whole weekend and all the games and you won’t see many of them ones given, and it’s also the context of it, that late in the game as well, it’s just even sort of more painful, but, I think it’s just scraped his finger, I mean.

Davies continued: “I haven’t actually seen that angle. That makes it ridiculous actually, that decision.”