A raging Neil Warnock was booked for his animated protests at referee Gavin Ward as Middlesbrough went down to a controversial 2-1 defeat at Swansea.

Andre Ayew’s penalty in the seventh minute of stoppage-time snatched the three points, the winner coming moments after Sam Morsy appeared to have earned Boro a draw.

Getty Images – Getty

Getty Images – Getty

But Jake Bidwell then tumbled under George Saville’s challenge in the penalty area and, although Ward at first pointed for a corner, a spot-kick was awarded and Ayew coolly stroked home.

This wasn’t the only setback Warnock’s men had to deal with in south Wales. They were forced into early change with Anfernee Dijksteel’s second collision with Ryan Manning in the space of a few minutes seeing him make way for Djed Spence.

Yannick Bolasie was then booked for hauling down Guehi and the foul led to Swansea taking the lead. Conor Hourihane’s free-kick was only cleared as far as Connor Roberts and his return header prompted confusion in the Boro defence.

Marc Bola and Jonny Howson went for the same ball and it fell kindly to Ayew, whose shot deflected off Spence and beat Marcus Bettinelli at the near post.

Getty Images – Getty

Boro had the ball in the Swansea net within seconds of the restart as Bola drove home ferociously from 25 yards – but referee Ward had already penalised Bolasie for clattering into Jay Fulton inside the penalty area, much to the obvious frustration of Warnock and his lieutenants.

But Boro levelled when Morsy slammed home his first goal since February 2020, although Ayew’s 13th of the season in the seventh minute of stoppage time ultimately denied them with his second late spot-kick winner of the week.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Middlesbrough, who controlled the match, with Warnock particularly irate at the referee’s performance.

He told talkSPORT: “You can imagine how I feel, I’ve just got to be careful what I say. I’ve never seen anything quite like it really.

Getty Images – Getty

Getty Images – Getty

“Ten minutes gone and Manning takes down Dijksteel and surely one of the fourth officials can see it, he ends up having to come off. He’s taken him down deliberately.

“And then we go to the penalty. He disallows a goal from Marc Bola and yet Yannick Bolasie has got the ball so it’s either our penalty or a goal and gives them a free-kick.

“What do you say? Referees, they know the rules, they don’t know the game and 95 per cent they get right but when they have to make a decision they guess because they’ve never played the game.

“The penalty the other night at Stoke that won Swansea the game, the referee guessed. He can’t have known and he’s guessed today. I usually rate him but that’s the worst I’ve ever seen him.

“It’s just farcical. You should have things like that happening at this level. We deserve better than that.”