A tale of two penalties saw Middlesbrough defeated for the first time since the opening day of the season against Norwich City.

Boro were awarded a penalty early in the second-half which Marcus Tavernier thought he had converted, but it was ruled out by referee Tony Harrington due to the midfielder touching the ball twice during his shot.

And with less than 20 minutes to go, Hayden Coulson felled Max Aarons inside his own area, giving Teemu Pukki the chance to open the scoring.

Pukki duly converted, and it ended up being the winning goal and one that took the Canaries to the top of the Championship table.

It was a valiant effort from Neil Warnock's side though, who have been incredibly tough to beat in recent months, but there was only one man he was blaming for the result - the referee.

Harrington was on the receiving end of a verbal lashing post-match from Warnock, not because of Norwich's penalty but rather because he failed to brandish a red card to Norwich's Jacob Sorensen after a tangle with Sam Folarin.

“He didn’t even book him. And for then for him to say to me after the game he didn’t think Sam was going to catch the ball. Why is he telling me that? Because he knows he is completely wrong. They all know he should have got sent off," Warnock ranted to the press.

“Why haven’t we got officials that know what they are doing. It is a disgrace.

“Maybe I should ask the referee chief. It will come back ‘no he should have sent him off’. What good is that to me? And I felt he had a decent game today, so how do I mark him?"

Warnock also had some choice words for former Premier League referee Mike Riley, who is the general manager of the PGMOL, the body responsible for match officials in England.

"Honestly the laws of the game, the people running it now … Mike Riley, that was like Mike Riley Part II today watching him," Warnock said.

"He will probably end up running the referees association this guy (Harrington).”

Everyone loves a Warnock rant, and no-one more than Boro fans right now who took to Twitter to praise their manager for standing up to the officials.