Birmingham City left Anfield seething with injustice last night after being denied victory over Liverpool because of a controversial penalty won by David Ngog, who they accused of “an embarrassing case of cheating”.

Liverpool were trailing when Ngog went down in the penalty area under a challenge by Lee Carsley. It appeared that no contact had been made but Peter Walton, the referee, awarded a penalty. Steven Gerrard scored from the spot to secure a 2-2 draw, to the outrage of Carsley and Alex McLeish, the Birmingham manager.

“I was absolutely nowhere near him,” an enraged Carsley said. “It’s a joke. I knew I didn’t touch him and I said to the referee to book me or send me off, it would have made me feel better. I’m sure he [Ngog] has got a family, well if I went home having done that, I’d be embarrassed. You’re supposed to be teaching your kids an example and that is just an embarrassing case of cheating.

“But the lad’s taken a chance and got his team a point so I’m sure they’ll be patting him on the back.”

Even Rafael Benítez did not attempt to protect his player after Ngog admitted that it probably was not a penalty. But the Liverpool manager claimed that the result was a fair one even if the manner in which it was earned was not.

“It was a pity to score from a penalty that maybe wasn’t a penalty but we deserved to score more goals in the second half,” Benítez said. “It could be a dive, but it wasn’t a penalty. But we have had a lot of situations this year that have gone against us, and this was one for us from a game where we deserved more. It’s important to be honest about these things.

“If it’s clear, then it is clear. Sometimes you have to accept it. We were attacking and attacking and deserved to win, but maybe it wasn’t a penalty. I haven’t seen the replay. I asked David and he said maybe it wasn’t a penalty.”

The draw leaves Liverpool with only one win from their past nine matches and 11 points behind Chelsea, the Barclays Premier League leaders. Their form will do little to relieve the pressure on Benítez.

Ngog had earlier given Liverpool the lead only for Birmingham to storm in front thanks to goals from Christian Benítez and Cameron Jerome, but the penalty incident was the big talking point long after the final whistle.

McLeish said the final scoreline left a sour taste in his mouth.

He also claimed that Walton will acknowledge that he made a mistake in awarding the controversial penalty once he has had the opportunity to watch the game again.

“It is a great point and I’d have taken that before the game but circumstances in the game change your outlook and I feel we were unlucky not to get three,” McLeish said. “It is a clear dive by Ngog and he’s won his team a penalty. It has happened for centuries and we have to take it on the chin.

“He [Peter Walton] is a top referee but he didn’t get that one right and I’m sure when he looks at it again he’ll see that Ngog dived. It was a terrific dive. Lee didn’t touch him. Lee dived in and when you dive in you are always at risk but there was no contact.

“Sometimes there is a debate over a penalty when there is contact but there was none here. It was not even close to being a penalty. We had to weather a storm, Gerrard hit a post and had a few late runs into the box but I thought my team and my defenders were awesome. It was backs to the wall but I didn’t feel we were going to lose a goal.

“Maybe I’ll look back on it tomorrow and think we’ll never have a better chance of getting three points at Anfield. The pressure Liverpool put on means they’ll claim they deserved at least a draw but you also need luck and it seems the bigger clubs get more over a season.”