Mark Cooper spoke of frustration after his Barrow side had a man dismissed en route to a 1-0 defeat to Bristol Rovers on Tuesday,
Niall Canavan was shown a straight red card in the 32nd minute at the Mem for pulling down Gas striker Leon Clarke as he chased a lofted through-ball from Antony Evans. The dismissal proved costly for the Bluebirds, with Rovers dominant against the 10 men before Evans finally broke through with nine minutes to play with a stunning long-range goal.
Barrow came close to an equaliser in stoppage time with James Belshaw forced into several fine save and Matt Plant struck the post from close range.
Despite the committed efforts of the 10 men, former Forest Green Rovers boss Cooper – who is serving an eight-game touchline ban for offensive comments made to a female assistant referee earlier in the season – could not conceal his disappointment with David Rock's decision to dismiss the Barrow centre-half.
"The sending-off was for the touch of an arm on a shoulder, which shouldn’t have been enough to bring a big striker down," Cooper said. "In any case, their player did not have control of the ball, so it was not a clear scoring chance."
Cooper also claimed that he was denied the ability to make a substitution, and further reinforce his defence, before Evans let fly from 25 yards to win the game for the Gas.
“We wanted to make a substitution and they scored with us still trying to do it," Cooper, who started his playing career in Bristol City's academy, added. "The fourth official told me he informed the referee that we wanted to make the change before the goal, but he wouldn’t allow it.
“My lads were magnificent and deserved something from the game. We defended our box brilliantly and they are very angry in the dressing room. I told them we don’t want to end the season talking about bad luck. But I feel for them.
“Even after Rovers scored, we bombarded their goal. It is very frustrating to be going home with nothing.”
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