Good point, was definitely a penalty but it did look like it wasn't given, even Adebayor fell back to the floor with his hands on his head (iirc) in disbelief that it wasn't given on the replays so he must have seen something from the ref that initially said no.
Pardew acknowledges it was a penalty but he made a good point that it took the referee ages to actually give it.
If the referee is unsure, then surely he shouldn't give it? (It was definitely the correct decision to give it like).