Football
ESPN staff 9y

Everton's Roberto Martinez: Swansea draw feels like defeat after soft penalty

Roberto Martinez insisted referee Michael Oliver should have applied "common sense" rather than awarding Swansea their point-saving penalty which denied Everton a fourth straight league victory in a 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium.

Swansea equalled their best Premier League points tally of 47 as Jonjo Shelvey cancelled out Aaron Lennon's first-half opener after 69 minutes.

The spot-kick was awarded when the prostrate Seamus Coleman handled just inside the area, and Martinez feels it was a harsh decision on his side.

"The penalty was a soft moment to drop two points," Martinez said. "Seamus is clear that he feels contact, he gets in front of the striker trying to get there and if you don't press the brakes quick enough you are going to get some contact.

"The referee at that point has to make a decision whether it's a free-kick or not, but what clearly happens is that Seamus loses his balance and as he falls to the ground he ends up touching the ball.

"It's very, very harsh of the referee to give the penalty and I think he should have applied some common sense.

"We had two or three actions straight after and it was given as a free-kick and it's disappointing you don't get that consistency.

"It's an unfortunate moment when you have a defender off balance and falling into the 18-yard box and it's a huge punishment for our performance.

"It feels like a defeat. We scored a very good goal from open play and the only criticism in the first 25 minutes of the second half was that it was too easy and we did not try to get the second goal."

Information from the Press Association was used in this report.

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