'You should calm yourself down' - Leeds United boss Daniel Farke's response to controversial key moment in Preston North End victory at Deepdale

Leeds boss Daniel Farke believes referee Josh Smith could have handled the sending off of goalkeeper Illan Meslier much better as he saw his side crash to defeat against Preston North End today.

The United keeper picked up a straight red after reacting to Milutin Osmajic’s initial shove in the chest on 53 minutes. After squaring up to the Lilywhites’ Ben Whiteman following a cross into the box, the Frenchman proceeded to then push Deepdale favourite Osmajic in the face - an action that promoted Smith to dismiss the 23-year-old without hesitation.

The controversial incident proved a key moment in the game, with neither team able to break the deadlock in front of 21,816 supporters. But within four minutes Ryan Lowe’s side found themselves in front thanks to Alan Browne.

And although Pascal Struijk equalised from the penalty spot with seven minutes of normal time remaining, it wasn’t enough to allow the 10-man visitors to enjoy a share of the spoils as Liam Millar capped off a man-of-the-match performance with a superbly-struck winner on 89 minutes.

The victory was Preston’s fourth in the league since mid-September and helped ease the pressure on manager Lowe.

But as Deepdale fans breathed a huge sigh of relief after witnessing their first home victory since November 4, Farke believed match official Smith could have been calmer in the moment, despite also criticising Meslier for giving the ref a decision to make.

Speaking on Sky Sports at the final whistle, the German said: ‘I have to accept this (the red card). I think it’s quite obvious that we don’t have to analyse it that much. It was a foul against my goalkeeper. Then the player wants to provoke a red card, runs over, gives him a push, and then shows the reaction. It’s exactly what he wanted - the red card and he got the red card.

‘I think, normally, when you’re a bit calmer as a referee you should calm yourself down - the game should not be decided by such an obvious situation when he (Osmajic) just wants to provoke it, because he dives and then he rolls around.

'But my focus is always on my players and for that Illan shouldn’t give him a decision to make. I think you go to both and say “come on, yellow card for provoking, for diving and giving him a knock” and then Illan also a yellow card. But the referee decided a different way and we have to accept this.’

In the post-match press conference, Farke added: 'The player goes down and rolls around 10 times. If I am honest I hate this diving and trying to provoke red cards. He will not win any fair play award. But also, I cannot complain about this because this is what a team sometimes does to get momentum - against a team who has been praised so much. For me, it is more to concentrate on what we can do better. We gave the referee a decision to make and Illan can be smarter with his decision. But, it is an away game, a spicy atmosphere and with a sold out stadium asking for a red card. You don't give the referee a decision to make. Illan has to learn.

'At half time I had mixed emotions," said Farke. "I was happy that we kept a highly motivated home side to one chance. We defended all set pieces and corners really well. Our defensive work was good but at half time I was not happy with our offensive game at all. We crated no chances at all. I was really not happy because we were not willing to invest more in offensive positions. I didn't like our offensive game. The key moment was the red card, in a difficult away game. And you concede a cross one minute after that.

'We showed a great reaction and were pretty brave in our approach, because we took defensive players off and put some attacking players on. We came back with a great equaliser and a deserved one I would say. Then, in the 89th minute, we allowed them to score and it was a situation where we were slightly open but in our defensive line. I didn't think we deserved to lose because of the second half, but we perhaps deserved it because of our attacking game in the first half. I think we should've invested a lot more in order to create chances.'

The win took Preston back up to seventh in the table and a point below the play-off places heading into the 3pm fixtures. Lowe's side is next in action on Friday, when they play host to Sheffield Wednesday.