Joey Barton believes Bristol Rovers were "hampered" by a poor refereeing performance at Accrington Stanley, with the hosts' opener in a 2-0 defeat at the Wham Stadium the produce of a "blatant" handball.
In a game short of quality, Accrington scored early in the second half through Tommy Leigh and referee Tom Nield allowed it to stand despite the ball clearly striking the hand of Harvey Rodgers immediately before substitute Leigh hit the back of the net.
In wet and windy conditions and with neither side finding a consistent flow, it was always likely to prove decisive and the Gas could not make any inroads at the other end, with Ryan Astley's clever flick sealing the three points with 11 minutes to play.
Barton says Mr Nield's decision to allow Leigh's 51st-minute goal swung the game in Accrington's favour.
"I could see it from where I was and he’s seen it himself. He knows," Barton said of the handball decision.
"I’ve got to be careful here as the FA love fining me, but our fans have paid a right few quid to get up here and then the referee swings the contest with as blatant a handball leading to a goal that you are ever likely to see in professional football.
"A tough afternoon. We must be better as well, we’re back to the drawing board, we need some players in and we’ve got a bit of work to do in the market.
"There are 57 points for us to play for and hopefully we can get competent officials who know the laws of the game. He’s just had the law book out to me saying the handball in the box, because it wasn’t deliberate and because he wasn’t the one that scored the goal, that’s OK.
"Well, why would we not advise our players then to handle it to each other and let’s have a game of volleyball or basketball? The reason it is called football is because you are not allowed to use your hands.
"He will sail off now into the unaccountable sunset of being a referee having short-changed the fans here of what was a fair contest. Accrington won’t care because they are fighting for their lives, but our fans have been short-changed today by a really bad officiating team"
Rovers remained in eighth despite the defeat, with many of their rivals for the final play-off place also suffering losses.
In the final 10 minutes with his team losing, Barton made his way away from the technical area down the touchline.
He explained why he did not hang around, saying: "I’d just had enough. I thought ‘If I stay here, I’m asking for every decision, I’m not getting heard, I’ll end up swearing and they will end up sending me off’ because they were desperate to book me and send me off.
"I thought if we are going to be treated this way by officials, I don’t want any part of the game. It’s just going to be moaning at the fourth official, who hasn’t got any clout at all and that leads to him calling the referee over and he gets after you.
"We’ve been severely hampered today by the officiating team. They have swung the game to Accrington."
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