Saturday 26 September 2015 22:23, UK
Cardiff manager Russell Slade defended Joe Mason after the striker was booked for diving during the Bluebirds' 2-1 Sky Bet Championship win over Charlton.
The visitors had led through substitute Karlan Ahearne-Grant's strike early in the second half, but the Bluebirds responded through Mason's fourth goal of the season before defender Sean Morrison headed home a 76th-minute winner.
However, Mason was caught up in controversy five minutes before the break as he went to ground over Charlton goalkeeper Nick Pope.
Mason would almost certainly have scored had he kept his feet, but referee Andrew Madley adjudged there had been no contact and that he had dived.
It was a decision that left Slade less than impressed, and he denied Mason had done anything wrong.
"Joe has been hard done by," said the former Leyton Orient manager.
"The linesman gave a penalty, he flagged for it, but the referee felt he should have overlooked it.
"I find it a really odd one to fathom out as if he had given a penalty the keeper would also have been sent off."
But Slade was far happier with the character his men had shown as they avoided the prospect of a third straight defeat in a game they should arguably have won by more after spurning several excellent first-half chances.
"It was important we bounced back and got a reaction from the disappointment of the last two games where we felt we were unfortunate," he said.
"Despite our domination in the first half we were unable to convert our chances which was frustrating.
"But the good thing is after going a goal down we showed a lot more intensity and deserved the equaliser and the goal that brought us the three points."
Ahearne-Grant had put the Addicks ahead when he calmly rolled home his first league goal from Tony Watt's pass in the 49th minute.
However, the home side responded just four minutes later, Mason finishing from close range as the Addicks appealed in vain for handball, before Morrison rose to power home Peter Whittingham's cross.
It means Charlton are without a win in five league games and manager Guy Luzon said: "When you lead 1-0 away from home you make sure you show the character and organisation to keep the result.
"If you do that you will have space to counter-attack as the game goes on. But we couldn't though our problem started in the first half as from every set-piece Cardiff won the ball and they had quite a lot of chances to score.
"That continued in the second half and we were eventually punished for that.
"We are on a disappointing run and the only way we can stop it is by keeping clean sheets which we have not been able to do.
"We have to show character now as a team, and set-piece defending relies a lot on character and we were not good enough in that area. We are conceding too often."
