Steve Cotterill questions referee following Shrewsbury defeat
Steve Cotterill felt his Shrewsbury Town side were unlikely to be handed any decision in their favour by referee Andy Davies and his team during the 2-1 defeat to Oxford.
Town were left empty handed as two goals against the run of play - the decisive second a controversial late penalty converted by Cameron Brannagan - condemned Town to a home defeat.
Ryan Bowman drew Salop level on the hour with his first goal since Boxing Day to cancel out Matty Taylor's early opener, which came after the hosts' bright start. But it was not until the second half that Shrewsbury were well in charge of the contest against the fourth-placed, in-form U's.
Davies, who generally officiates in the Championship, and his team were the recipients of audible jeers at half-time and full-time. The officials missed what appeared a clear penalty for handball with the score at 0-0. Manager Cotterill exchanged words while shaking hands in the middle of the pitch after the final whistle, shortly after being shown a yellow card in the dugout. He was seen in discussion with the fourth official prior to the caution.
Cotterill said of the early incident: "It could be (handball) - I'm not sure we were going to get too much today.
"If he'd have caught it I'm not sure we'd have got it today.
"We did enough to win the game, let alone even draw it, so it's really disappointing. The lads have put in a fantastic shift like they always do.
"I'm not sure it was a penalty (for Oxford's winner), if you slow it down their lad just gets his right shoulder in front of Elliott, he's looking for the penalty 100 per cent and he got it.
"I'm afraid before that it didn't look like we were getting too much of the decisions today but there's nothing we can do about it.
"It's taken until March 12 (for the yellow card) - so I haven't done badly, have I?"
U's boss Karl Robinson, whose highest-scoring side in the division moved on to 68 points for the season, agreed with Cotterill in his assessment of some of the officiating on display.
Robinson said: “I thought there were some very peculiar (refereeing) decisions that went our way, but we’ve spoken many times when that’s not gone our way."
The defeat, a first in four games, sees Town slip a place to 18th , six points clear of trio Fleetwood, AFC Wimbledon and Gillingham on 33 points beneath them.
Relegation-battling Morecambe come to Montgomery Waters Meadow for a crunch six-pointer on Tuesday. The Shrimps have dropped to 22nd and will look to eat into the seven-point gap between themselves and Salop in Shropshire.
Cotterill's men, meanwhile, gave yet another good account of themselves against impressive opposition in Oxford, following the theme of recent weeks. But the victory at Burton two Saturdays ago remains their only win in 13.
Town were in the ascendency throughout the second period and deserved their equaliser through Bowman, but should have scored a second before the U's winner arrived from the spot, as Elliott Bennett neglected to shoot in the box and instead tried to tee up Bowman, who fired over.
"Certainly in the second half yes (we deserved more), I'm not sure we did ourselves justice in the first half," Cotterill added.
"We were OK but I wouldn't say we deserved to lose the game with the chances in the second half we created but didn't take, we've got to take those opportunities.
"We got back to 1-1 and it was more than we deserved, I think the game was there to go to win then, I'm not convinced it was a penalty.
"I think the lad gets around Elliott and steps back into him and puts his leg out, which is why he gives a penalty.
"It was a great goal, I'm really pleased with that, but unfortunately we couldn't get another one.
"There's no point in scoring a great goal and then getting beat. I'd rather score two scrappy goals but that wasn't the case today.
"He had another just after it but I think Elliott needs to swing a leg at it when he gets that close, I don't think there's need for another pass and then he has to take another touch because it's behind him and then he has to go high so it doesn't get blocked on the line."
A highlight for Town was the return of the impressive Josh Vela from three matches out suspended, while Shaun Whalley returned from four months out injured as a late substitute to clock up 250 Town appearances.
"That was why I probably went for Josh coming back in. Tom (Bloxham) hasn't done too much wrong, he's just a young boy coming in that's going to be up and down," said the manager.
"That link play they have is always very good, Josh will be better for having that game today. It was a bit of a blow burner, he got more into it in the second half."
