Lee Johnson felt the late penalty that earned Sheffield Wednesday a 1-0 victory and a place in the top three of the Championship should not have been awarded.

The match between the two Championship promotion hopefuls had looked set to finish in a goalless stalemate until Wednesday won a spot-kick five minutes from time. Tommy Rowe was adjudged to have brought down Atdhe Nuhiu and Barry Bannan sent Daniel Bentley the wrong way.

Wednesday climbed to third after extending their unbeaten run to six games, moving four points above City in the process, but Johnson believes his side were hard done by.

The City manager, whose side have lost three games on the trot, said: “It was definitely not a penalty. Sky have just showed it to me and I think the Sky reporters would suggest it’s not a pen. The ref’s got sucked in, really. It’s actually arguable whether it’s even in the box. It’s just a coming together with the ball spinning away.

“Rowe is a 32-year-old, experienced player, nobody is in possession of the ball and it’s a simple coming together from both parties. Nuhiu is halfway down before there’s any contact at all. I’ve spoken to the referee. He invited me in but that will stay private.”

Lee Johnson said he thought the referee had ‘got sucked in’ by Wednesday’s Atdhe Nuhiu. Photograph: George Wood/Getty Images

Garry Monk said Wednesday looked the more likely scorers and the penalty was a fair decision. “We’re delighted with the three points. We knew it was going to be a tight game. Their form is probably better away from home at the moment than it is at home so we knew that it was going to be tight and the first half proved that.

“I think from the second half onwards we stepped it up and you could see that progression. I think we were the ones looking the most likely.

“It was a penalty. It looked a clear penalty from where I was. We had a shout just before that which I thought was a penalty as well, on Jordan [Rhodes].

“I think we were building pressure and it was fantastic mentality to keep going and going. We forced them into the mistake and got our rewards. I’m delighted for the players. Three points and another clean sheet is a good start to this period.”