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Lee Johnson has revealed Bristol City received a personal apology from EFL referees' chief David Allison over the decisions made by Scott Duncan during the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa at Villa Park last Saturday.

Johnson chose his words carefully after the official denied Andi Weimann was appeared a perfectly legitimate first-half header for offside andf then five minutes into the second half adjudged Jack Hunt to have pulled down Conor Hourihane inside the penalty area, from which Tammy Abraham opened the scoring.

Villa went on to take the three points and Johnson and several first-team players highlighted Duncan's display following the game while also receiving support from television pundits Liam Rosenoir and Michael Brown ; all in agreement the decisions went firmly against City.

City have been charged by the FA for failing to control their players in the wake of the Hunt penalty decision, with several surrounding Duncan, a total of seven Bristol City players were booked over the course of the 90 minutes and assistants Dean Holden and Jamie McAllister were also carded for remonstrating on the touchline.

Duncan and Johnson will come face to face at Hillsborough on Monday as he has been appointed fourth official for the Championship match against Sheffield Wednesday with Johnson claiming he received a phone call and a letter from PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Board) National Group Director Allison.

"Villa we performed well but we got done by referees on two occasions, which they have apologised for. Which is no good now, when you get that letter and that phone call. But it's two key goals, our goal onside and the penalty not a penalty," Johnson said.

"Games change on those type things and that will be the same in all the remanining fixtures, not just for Bristol City.

"You can't talk to referees. You go in after the game, 30 minutes after, and they haven't seen it (a replay) and you have and they tell you, 'it's subjective' and I say, 'no, it's objective, I've seen it', and then prove that I'm right 48 hours later, but it happens.

"They key thing for me is to bring VAR in because there is so much on these games, the scrutiny on the referees, they're going to need some help. Because on that occasion they've made two poor decisions that has cost up a leg up in a very big game."

Bristol City face another difficult away test against Sheffield Wednesday on Easter Monday but such is their form on the road, Johnson insists his team head to Hillsborough confident of victory.

The Robins average 1.45 points per game at Ashton Gate but 1.7 away from BS3 and the loss at Villa Park was only their sixth on their travels this season with Johnson's side boasting the sixth-best in the division.

"I think Sheffield Wednesday have always had a good squad, full of proper experience at this level and top end attributes at what that individual has got. But I think we can go there, after the performance against Reading, full of beans," Johnson added.

"We've got to recover because physically that was a big game but you'd expect the Norwich game (for them) to be a physical game as well. We've got just go and play our game and play our way and hope that's enough to manufacture those little moments from which we can provide the quality and the finish.

"Our away form has been decent so we have no fears going out on the road, I think the boys can handle the atmosphere and the environment."