Howard Webb, England’s leading match official, provided another moment of refereeing controversy in the European Championship finals last night, but earned praise for his decision from observers.

Webb — at 36, the youngest referee in the tournament — awarded an injury-time penalty to Austria for the little-penalised offence of shirt-pulling, allowing the co-hosts to salvage a 1-1 draw.

“A lot of referees talk a good game but he’s done a good game,” Gordon Strachan, the Celtic manager and BBC pundit, said. “He’s been brave enough to put his head on the block and say, ‘Enough is enough.’ ”

With Poland leading 1-0, Mariusz Lewandowski, their midfield player, clearly grasped the shirt of Sebastian Prödl, the Austria defender, in the penalty area. Before the start of the finals, Uefa, the sport’s European governing body, had advised its referees to punish the much-used yet illegal tactic, but none had seen fit to do so.

Not so Webb. The part-time police sergeant from South Yorkshire immediately pointed to the spot and Ivica Vastic, the veteran Austria striker, drilled in the equaliser.

The BBC television analysts, in line with Strachan, were unanimous in their support of Webb’s action. Alan Hansen, not noted for his admiration of officials, said: “It was controversial, but brave. But how many times do we see this in the box?”

Alan Shearer, the former England striker, said: “He got it absolutely right. But how often do we see this given? Never. You can’t criticise him [Webb], but the problem is consistency. If you are going to give it every time, then you are going to get four or five penalties every game.”

Uefa is likely to back Webb’s ruling today and Graham Poll, whom Webb replaced as England’s leading referee, believes that he should receive a second match at the end of the group stages. It was Poll, below, in the 2006 World Cup finals, who was vilified after he infamously sent off Josip Simunic, the Croatia defender, against Australia only after he had booked him for a third time.

“Howard will want to see that again on the video,” Poll said last night. “Sometimes it can appear different to how he saw it. But he will already have received texts from his friends in England saying, ‘Well done. Big decision and brave.’ It was his first major championship match, he had a fine game and he should get a second one.”