Mansfield boss Nigel Clough was furious with the officials as his depleted side were beaten 2-1 at home by Stockport.
The Stags, without 10 players, dropped into the relegation zone after a sixth League One game without victory.
Kyle Wootton’s own goal put them in front as he tried to prevent Ryan Sweeney getting a head to Nathan Moriah-Welsh’s corner but could only turn the ball past his own goalkeeper.
Sweeney then put into his own net after 42 minutes, diverting the ball in after Jayden Fevrier had wrestled his way past Frazer Blake-Tracy on the right and drilled in a low cross.
Jack Diamond headed the winner in the 69th minute, but Clough said: “We didn’t deserve to finish up empty-handed.
“It is as harsh a result as we have had for a long time.
“Decisions again are defining the results of our games at the moment and unfortunately they have gone against us again.”
Clough felt Blake-Tracy was fouled in the build-up to Sweeney’s own goal, referee Alan Young blew too early for half-time and Will Evans should have had a late penalty.
He said: “Frazer was fouled from behind in the build-up and the assistant was eight yards away from it and the referee was in a good position and neither of them gave it.
“It was a grave error from the referee to blow a minute early for half-time.
“That was legitimate game time in which you could score two goals or someone get sent off.
“Then late on Will has pushed the ball past a defender and been bundled over and I thought it was a very genuine shout for a penalty.”
Stockport manager Dave Challinor said: “It has not been a great place for us here playing against Mansfield and not been very fruitful over recent years.
“We’ve not had great results against them at home too, so it’s nice to win one.
“That is two gritty away performances in a row now.
“I thought we started the game really well and, until we conceded, had some good situations.
“We then conceded a poor goal. We have to defend better than that.
“But we reacted well to that as a team who have not had a good run of results and needed a bit of luck to get ourselves back in it.
“In the second half we had to dig in before a cross and a really good header from Jack wins us the game.
“We are in a good place, but we have a tough run of games coming up which is a moment we are going to have to get through.
“We need to put a run together that takes us into 2026 with everything to play for.”
