STRIKER Jordan Rhodes insists Huddersfield Town should have had two clear penalties in incidents which left home fans incensed.
Rhodes, who notched his 33rd goal of the season, was denied a first-half effort when Rochdale defender Joe Widdowson appeared to handle on the line.
Then the Scotland star went down in the box in the second half, with referee David Webb refusing the first appeal and then penalising Rhodes for an alleged foul.
Rhodes believes both should have been penalties and said: “On the first one I thought their player definitely handled it on the line. It stopped a goal as the ball was going in.
“But the referee said their player couldn’t get his arm out of the way. It was just one of those things. Sometimes the decisions don’t go for you.
“It was the same with the second one. I’ve been tripped. He’s caught my right leg and I’ve gone down. But again the decision’s not gone for us.”
Rhodes, though, was happier with his goal, which put Town 2-1 up at that stage and leaves him one short of equalling Iwan Roberts’ post-war club record for strikes in a season.
It came at full stretch from Lee Novak’s deep low cross and Rhodes said: “We’ve been working on that in training and so I knew where Lee was going to put the ball.
“It was a bit of a stretch, but I just managed to make contact.
“I don’t know exactly what the ball hit. I think it connected with my left foot, but I’m not sure as it all happened so quickly.
“The next thing I knew was the ball was in the net and I was off to celebrate with the team and thank Lee for the quality of his delivery.”
Town started the match with Rhodes up front on his own, a role he feels he his adapting to, partly thanks to his international experience.
“I’ve played a lot in that role for the Scotland Under 21s,” he said.
“I feel a lot stronger, more confident and have learned a lot about the demands on a striker in that role.
“It’s still a learning process, but I think I’m getting better at making runs into the right areas. Alan Lee’s been a big help with that as well.
“I’m learning all the time from him. He’s a real role model and someone to look up to in terms of how he handles himself both on and off the pitch.”
