Bristol Rovers boss Steve Evans was annoyed with the officials’ decisions after a 1-0 League Two defeat by MK Dons.
Callum Paterson scored the game’s only goal, with the Scotsman’s fourth goal in two games seeing him net from close range in first-half stoppage-time as he converted Aaron Collins’ cross.
Evans was annoyed with a decision not to show Paterson a second yellow just before scoring, following an incident when he collided with Joel Senior.
He said: “The simple facts are that, having seen it from a yard away in the technical area then looking at the video half-time and afterwards, Paterson shouldn’t be on the pitch.
“He’s absolutely smashed his lights out and he’s already on a yellow.
“The referee tonight, I thought he was incompetent in a lot of his decisions. I’m not questioning Craig Hicks’ integrity – he’s a very honest guy, but you have to be better than that.
“That’s incompetent for the Football League level to miss some of the decisions he’s missed.”
Reflecting on the game as a whole, Evans said: “It was an outstanding performance we produced. The best team has lost. I couldn’t say that after Salford.
“I felt we were lacking effort, intensity, aggression, passion, everything that a team in League Two needs to win a game at Salford.
“When you display this type of passion, effort and energy and then have the referee make a difference – we’ll continue to make progress.”
Rovers remain outside the relegation zone, but have picked up just one win in their past 17 league games.
Victory lifted the Dons up to second in a tight promotion race and their head coach Paul Warne was happy with the win.
He said: “I think we’ll play a lot better but then you have to respect the opposition.
“We were a lot better Saturday. We needed a second goal that probably would’ve allowed us to have more passes but it seemed like a game that was constantly stopped with long throws everywhere and free-kicks everywhere for both teams.
“It wasn’t a game for the purists.
“The best thing was that when you got on numbers and defend eight corners, 20 long-throws into the box, you have to be a very good defensive unit not to let up on any chances.
“I thought for that, the lads take a lot of credit that they kept a clean sheet under that sort of circumstance.”
Warne took a different perspective on the flashpoint involving Paterson, saying, “The whole thing was a concern. He’d been booked and backed into the player.
“I watched it back but there’s no elbow to the head, none of what he was being accused of.”
