Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill said the yellow card he was shown at the end of his side’s 1-0 defeat by Slovakia was for telling the referee to “be stronger”.
Striker Tomas Bobcek netted in additional time to win the 2026 World Cup qualifier for his side after the hosts had two earlier efforts disallowed in the half.
Northern Ireland felt that the substitute’s strike which ended their hopes of a top-two spot in Group A should also have been chalked off by referee Istvan Kovacs for a push by Leo Sauer on Daniel Ballard in the build-up.
To compound O’Neill’s frustration, Ballard was later sent off after picking up a yellow card the manager described as “a joke,” while he added he felt it was “disappointing” that his opposing boss Francesco Calzona did not shake hands after the game.
“I said to the referee that he needed to be stronger and he booked me,” said O’Neill.
“I went to shake his hand, said that he needed to be stronger, and that was enough for him to book me. If I’m not allowed to say that, then I shouldn’t have said it.”
Despite the loss, Northern Ireland will still take part in March play-offs to make it to next year’s World Cup thanks to winning their Nations League group in November.
The loss in Kosice does damage their hopes of making it to North America, however, as they will enter those play-offs among the fourth group of seeds.
Slovakia originally thought that had taken the lead in the 56th minute when Lukas Haraslin’s free-kick flew past Bailey Peacock-Farrell, but it was adjudged that Milan Skriniar had obstructed the view of the Northern Ireland stopper.
Just eight minutes later, they had another strike disallowed by VAR after David Strelec was penalised for handling the ball.
O’Neill felt that the decisions to disallow the previous efforts played into allowing the late winner.
“It was a clear push on Daniel Ballard at the corner, two hands in his back,” said O’Neill.
“The other goals that were disallowed should have been disallowed. The first one was offside, the lines show that clearly and the second one was handball.
“You have to look at each incident in its own merit, you can’t go cumulative and referee the last incident differently to how you refereed the other two incidents.”
Following the goal, Ballard was sent off for a second yellow and midfielder George Saville booked with both played now ruled out of Monday night’s game with Luxembourg through suspension.
On Ballard’s second yellow, O’Neill said: “The Slovakian dug-out that caused that as much as anything.”
“The [second] yellow card for Daniel is a joke,” the manager continued.
“If you look at it back, it is poor.”
“He is a top referee, he has refereed the Champions League final, he should have disallowed the goal.”
The victory, which keeps alive Slovakia’s hopes of qualifying automatically for next summer’s tournament, sparked huge celebrations from the hosts with O’Neill describing their reaction as “disappointing”.
“Everything was on the line for Slovakia. You could tell that by the way their technical area behaved towards the end of the game. Which was disappointing.
“Disappointing for their coach not to shake my hand.
“Ultimately, we congratulate Slovakia because they have a to go to Germany and win the group.”