Nigel Pearson was left confused and frustrated by the referee's decision not to award his side a penalty while also questioning the linesman's positioning to disallow Sam Bell's late strike in Bristol City's 1-1 draw.
Following a first half of minimal chances, the game came to life when Bradley Dack opened the scoring from close range in the 54th minute. The hosts responded well and Antoine Semenyo, who has been the source of intense transfer speculation, grabbed the equaliser in the 68th minute.
Defender Zak Vyner went on a mazy run forward and his shot from distance was parried into Semenyo's path who couldn't miss from a few yards out. It was the Ghanaian's fourth goal in his last five matches to maintain his run of fine form in front of goal.
Five minutes prior to that, City felt as though they should have had a penalty when Scott Wharton went through the back of Nahki Wells. Despite strong appeals, the referee decided it was a fair challenge as the wait for a penalty continued into its 441st day.
Bell thought he had won it at the end but his celebrations were cut short when the offside flag was raised. When asked if he had seen it back, Pearson said: "I’ve seen the linesman or the referee’s assistant is not in the position to make that call in terms of he’s not level with the last person.
"But it doesn’t matter, I’m more disappointed with the penalty shout that’s not given when Nahki Wells is tackled from behind in the fashion that he is. The explanation is 'minimal football contact', whatever that means.
"'Minimal football contact', what does that mean? No idea. Got no idea what they were talking about and so another week goes past where we have a shout that if it went against us, I wouldn’t argue against it.
"If that was against us, I wouldn’t be arguing with that. But there you go, that’s what we have to put up with every week I’m afraid.”
The draw extended City's unbeaten run to six games in all competitions but Pearson felt his side deserved all three. He added: "We were the better side, we were on top for almost the entirety of the game, we played well today.
"I think we put them under pressure, they are a decent side. I think the league table tells you that. I think the players showed that we played at a good tempo and pushed them to the very end.
"On this run of games where we've been unbeaten, I think today the players - I don't think anybody can question their commitment. If they do question it then I would question them because it was a really honest performance.
"We didn't get everything right out there but I expect that anyway. You're never going to get a perfect performance. We tried to win it, I think we deserved more than we got today and I'm really pleased with how the players went about the game."
Pearson also praised the performance of Semenyo after City received bids from Bournemouth and Burnley in the build-up to the contest. He said: "I thought he played really well.
"He showed all the qualities that I hoped he would do and that is while he's at this football club he's committed to us. He can't dictate what's happening elsewhere. While players are with us, I expect them to play with total commitment and he did that today. He deserved his goal."
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