What Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley said to get booked during 1-0 win at Wycombe

And on the face of it, there’s worse things he could have said to warrant his name being taken and a yellow card being brandished.

The incident took place not long after brother Cowley received the same treatment in the first half.

Cowley was furious that Jordan Obita’s tackle on Louis Thompson inside the Wycombe penalty spot didn’t deserve a penalty – a call he viewed as in the ‘top five bad decisions’ he’d seen as a manager.

And his mood wasn’t helped just moments later when Nield judged Sean Raggett’s challenge on Anis Mehmeti at the other end as spot-kick offence.

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The Blues head coach saw that decision as ‘soft’ but could understand why it was given.

Yet it didn’t stop him expressing his point of view to the fourth official, who clearly reported Cowley to the match referee.

Revealing what went on, Cowley told The News: ‘It takes a lot for me nowadays to get booked.

‘You'll have to check, that's my first booking in a couple of year's, I'd have thought.

‘What did I say? I said politely (to the fourth official) "can you ask the referee to up his game please?”

‘I've obviously had the pleasure, the opportunity to watch it (Obita’s challenge) back.

‘I've been a manager for 728 games and that would be in the top five bad decisions, I would have thought.

‘It was just a clear, clear penalty.

‘He said to me, the ref, there was no contact.

‘But it was a crazy decision and then for 30 seconds later to go up the other end - and that is soft!

‘I can see it being a penalty, I'm not going to criticise that decision.

‘I can see why he's given it, but you don't normally get a stonewall not given and a soft one given at the other end.

‘It was a double whammy and thankfully Alex (Bass) does what Alex does best.’

What Bass did was comfortably save Joe Jacobson’s penalty, which proved a key moment in the Adams Park victory, alongside Marcus Harness’ 73rd-minute winner.

And just out of interest, our investigations show Cowley’s last yellow card came in November 2019, when he was manager of Huddersfield in a game against Preston.

However, he did see red in December 2018, during Lincoln’s 3-2 win against Newport County at Sincil Bank.