Charlton Athletic boss Ben Garner has suggested the controversial penalty given against his side in last night's 2-0 defeat to MK Dons "ruined" the game and revealed he asked the referee after the game if he was "100% sure" it was a penalty. 

A coming together between Ryan Innis and Louie Barry, which began outside the box but led to the attacker tumbling inside the penalty area, saw the referee award a penalty and show the Addicks defender a second yellow.

Will Grigg converted the spot kick and MK Dons added a second from a free-kick later in the second half, ensuring they took all three points from the League One tie.

Speaking to club media after the game, Garner did not mince his words when asked about what he felt was a game-changing moment.

He said: "I think in the first half we were ok but no better than ok. I thought at the start of the second half we were really good. We started the half really well, created some good opportunities – didn’t get the goal when we should have done, we had the ascendancy and then the penalty decision changes the game.

“I said to the ref at the end of the game ‘are you 100 percent sure it was a penalty?’. He said ‘yes, definitely’. I’ve just seen it, it is two yards outside the box and it is not even a foul. The free kick that they get the second goal for, is not a foul. Unfortunately, the game has been ruined on that note but for the amount of possession we had, we didn’t create enough. We didn’t have enough cutting-edge tonight. We need to do better but if it stays 0-0 and goes into those closing stages, I still would have had my money on us winning the game rather than them and it has changed on those decisions.

“It's easy to complain at the decisions and that has changed the game but for me, we need to play better than what we did. There was good elements, there was good periods of control, the start of the second half and if we’d have kept that going, we’d have gone on and won the game for sure.”

The defeat sees Charlton drop to eighth in the table – four points outside the top six.

Garner's side are back at The Valley on Saturday when they host League One promotion favourites Ipswich Town.

The Verdict

It's hard to disagree with Garner here as on reflection, it does look like a poor decision to award the penalty.

The majority of the contact is outside the box and there is an argument to be had over whether it's a foul at all as it's shoulder to shoulder – though the force Inniss uses does give Barry the opportunity to go down.

It's a costly decision for the Addicks and one that has brought an end to their three-game winning run.

The timing is far from ideal, either, with a visit from Ipswich on Saturday.