Mick McCarthy felt Wolves were robbed of a "stonewall penalty" in the closing stages of their 0-0 draw at Bristol City on Saturday.With just four minutes remaining at Ashton Gate, Matt Jarvis drove into the City box between two defenders and looked to be tripped by substitute Nick Carle.
Referee Paul Taylor took a good look before waving play on and City escaped with a vital point in their bid for successive promotions.
McCarthy said: "You could tell it was a stonewall penalty because the ground went very quiet. The referee had a big decision to make and failed to make it.
"But I'm not blaming him for our failure to win. We were by far the better side and needed to take our chances to make it count.
"Bristol City are a well-organised and well-managed side. If I'm honest, it surprises me that they are still right up there when it matters, but they have had a good spirit about them all season.
"I'm pleased with our performance in what was always going to be a tough game, with pressure on both sides."
City manager Gary Johnson disagreed over the penalty incident.
He said: "I didn't think it was a foul from where I was standing. I felt it was a fair result in the end. Both sides had a real go in the last 20 minutes when the game opened up and it could have gone either way.
"Our next game is at Stoke and we have always looked upon that as a must-win fixture. Nothing has changed in that respect."
Both goalkeepers were in impressive form, with City's Adriano Basso by far the busier in the early stages.
He saved well from Michael Gray with less than a minute on the clock and did even better to tip Jarvis' 33rd-minute drive around his near post.
The imposing Wayne Hennessey was just as effective for Wolves, his best save coming after 67 minutes to keep out an Ivan Sproule shot.
Basso had to make another fine stop to deflect Andy Keogh's rasping volley two minutes later and was grateful when the resulting corner saw Neil Collins head straight at him.
Steve Brooker was City's most threatening attacker and he rounded off a good contribution with a late goal-line clearance to deny George Elokobi.
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