Referee Carl Boyeson has admitted he should have given City a penalty against Crewe.

The Bantams claimed a late spot-kick when defender Ashley Westwood handled on the edge of the box.

But Boyeson, acting on the advice of his assistant, awarded a free-kick just outside the area. Crewe hung on to inflict City’s first loss in 11 games.

Having since watched the incident again, the Hull-based official contacted Stuart McCall to say that he had got it wrong.

McCall said: “Everyone makes mistakes and it’s good that a referee is prepared to ring and apologise. I appreciated his honesty.

“It wasn’t down to him, he was just acting on the advice of the linesman, but he said they work as a team and accepted responsibility.”