Nigel Pearson was left to sarcastically question whether there had been a rule change after Bristol City were denied a number of penalties in their FA Cup draw with Swansea.
The hosts fell behind through Rob Atkinson's glaring error in the 15th minute when he scuffed a pass into the path of Liam Cullen inside the area. He squared the ball for Joel Piroe who could simply tap into an empty net.
It gave the Robins a mountain to climb and in truth, they were fortunate to reach the break just one behind. Swansea cut through City's midfield with Joe Allen and Oliver Cooper enjoying far too much space to dictate the play.
Whilst goalkeeper Steven Benda was rarely tested in the first half, City arguably should have had two penalties. The first came in the 16th minute when Ben Cabango challenged Antoine Semenyo in the area with replays showing he failed to get a touch on the ball.
The second came on the stroke of half-time when Atkinson was seemingly taken down from behind in front of the away support. Pearson changed shape in the second half, moving Kal Naismith into midfield and City came out with a new lease of life, taking more risks and getting more crosses into the area.
They were eventually rewarded with Semenyo's equaliser 15 minutes from time when he headed in Andi Weimann's cross at the back post. However, Pearson was left frustrated with the decisions of the officials after a number of his players were dragged to the ground in the area during the second half to stretch City's wait for a penalty to almost 14 months.
He said: "We had a go in both halves. Two penalty decisions... no idea why they weren't given in the first half. Let's not waste energy on them.
"Every set-play or every time something goes into their box, they are actually allowed to grab our players and pull them to the ground. I wasn't aware there was a rule change, to be honest with you but there seems to be a rule change that we weren't aware of.
"A mistake put us under a bit of pressure but I think Rob dealt with it pretty well and didn't dwell on it. It was important to get to half-time no worse than 1-0 and try and get back in there but sometimes things don't go your way.
"We went 4-3-3 (in the second half). It was to give us more width and more threat at their defence. We still had the same formation in midfield it just allowed us to put more pressure on their full-backs and be a bit more aggressive going forward and we did that.
"To be fair the players' efforts in both halves, I've got no complaints. Second half we played much better and looked like we were going to go on to win it once we got the equaliser.
"It wasn't about being braver. In the first half our wing-backs didn't really get forward enough and I understand why they didn't. They were fearful of going to press the full-back.
"They got their timings wrong. They didn't go early enough both Pring and Tanner in the first half couldn't release themselves early enough to put pressure on the ball so consequently, as they were getting to their man, the ball was going past them."
With City lining up as a back four in the second period, they were able to pin Swansea back which allowed Weimann to have a greater influence on proceedings. Asked whether that performance would give Pearson food for thought to change shape for the visit of Birmingham next weekend, he added: "Yeah possibly, but I’ve played 4-3-3 plenty of times here before.
"It’s really about who’s available, you know the reasons we’ve played with a back three for probably a year now. You’ve written enough about that, but it was a good response in the second half, I think we needed to change it at half-time just to give ourselves a chance of not conceding as much possession.
"The players know how to play 4-3-3 because we’ve done it plenty of times, so they were able to get into that routine pretty quickly, I think they did it well."
Tommy Conway and Weimann were forced off with apparent hamstring injuries with Pearson saying they will have to be assessed before further determining the severity of them. The FA Cup replay will take place on Tuesday 17th.
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