Sheffield Wednesday recorded a much-needed win against Aston Villa last time out, but Carlos Carvalhal was keen to praise more than just his players for their performance on Saturday.

The Portuguese manager also took time to credit referee Geoff Eltringham. The Owls have been on the end of some poor decisions over the past month, but the official on Saturday let the game flow and was virtually anonymous.

With a crowd of over 33,000 at Villa Park to watch the game, other officials may have been influenced by them, but Carvalhal praised Eltringham's handling of the game. “We had a strong referee against Villa. He didn't feel the atmosphere and made good decisions,” he told the Sheffield Star.

If we had referees like him in the previous five games, we would probably have minimum of five more points which would make a massive difference. We would have more points if we had referees who didn't make mistakes.”

Carvalhal has been particularly aggrieved after defeats to Birmingham and Bolton when he spoke out at offside and penalty decisions going against Wednesday.

The Verdict

There's no doubt that Wednesday have been on the end of some bad decisions in the past month or so, but this is poor from Carvalhal.

It's not just the officials fault, he needs to take a look at himself. Whether it's team selection, tactical decisions or many other factors, he has made mistakes this season and it's a cheap shot at the refs.

They are all professional and all giving their best, he wouldn't appreciate them offering advice on management to him. It's good that he praised the ref in the Villa game, but he should've just left it at that.

Thoughts, Wednesday fans? Let us know in the comments below.