MICHAEL Doughty revealed that he felt he had no option but to bite his tongue after being penalised for the controversial free-kick that led to Swindon Town falling behind on Saturday.

In the first half, a lackadaisical backheel saw the Town midfielder gift possession to Peterborough’s Marcus Maddison and as Doughty attempted to make up for his error with a despairing tackle, referee Tim Robinson blew up, despite the Swindon man appearing to win the ball.

Maddison would go on to cross for Gwion Edwards to put the hosts in front and at half-time, Doughty was forced to cut short his remonstrations with ref Robinson to avoid falling foul of the English football’s new low-tolerance stance on players confronting match officials.

“I was a little bit sloppy in possession, did a flick when I probably shouldn’t have, and tried to make amends for that as soon as I could with what I felt was a clean tackle,” Doughty told BBC Wiltshire.

“I think the linesman was the one that actually gave it and I think it was a harsh one but swings and roundabouts; we got a decision in the second half.

“I can’t really blame the ref. Nobody goes out there to make a wrong decision and these things happen in life – fortunately, it didn’t really affect the outcome too much.

“I think it’s tough for us as players now because you’re kind of walking a tightrope with the new laws in terms of trying to make your point known that you didn’t think it was the best decision but also not stepping over that line and inducing a yellow card.

“I tried to make my point as fairly as I could without letting emotion get involved but sometimes that’s difficult so in the end, I thought it was better to leave it – nothing’s going to change from me shouting at him.”

Doughty would go on to be the driving force behind Town’s comeback, with the Queens Park Rangers loanee seeing a shot handled by Peterborough defender Michael Bostwick before slotting home from the penalty spot to make it 1-1.

Then, after Maddison had notched a spot-kick at the other end to restore the hosts’ lead, Doughty blasted a low cross from the left that was diverted into his own net by the Posh’s Jack Baldwin to level things up a final time.

The Swindon midfielder thought 2-2 was a fair scoreline when all was said and done.

He added: “It felt right to me.

“Usually, your instincts give you a good impression of the game and we had quite a few chances, and they had quite a few chances, so for the neutral, it was an enjoyable one but I think that we held our own against a good League One side.”