Barnsley boss Michael Duff was left frustrated by decisions from the referee and his side’s poor finishing in their 1-1 at Accrington Stanley.
The Reds – who had won their last five league games – took the lead through James Norwood but the hosts levelled with a disputed penalty awarded by Rebecca Welch for handball. She also did not give a foul on Devante Cole which Duff thought should have been a spot-kick.
Duff said: “It feels like two points dropped. We’ve been done by two penalties - one that was given that wasn’t one and one that wasn’t given which was one. Ultimately that’s the difference in the game.
“We were in control but you are never in total control at 1-0. You are leaving it to a referee’s decision which she got wrong. It’s impossible that it can be a handball, his hand is in front of his chest.”
Duff said Cole should have had a penalty at 1-1. He said: “He has no reason to go down because he’s ahead of the centre half. The centre half is not catching him because he’s one of the quickest players at the club.”
But Duff also admitted his side’s finishing was poor. He said: “We should have been out of sight at half-time and I said that at half-time. Then we had two one-on-ones and Coley put one over from about a yard.
“We need to be more ruthless. If we score the second goal, I don’t think they would get back into it.
“The positives are it’s another game unbeaten at a tough place to come and, in spells, we looked good without looking at our best.
“It wasn’t that long ago we couldn’t score or create a chance. Today we created numerous chances. The players are frustrated because they are human. They had to give up their Christmas Day then we thought they did enough to win the game.
“You take your points where you get them and we have two home games now. This’ll look like a good point if we get good results in the next games.”
Almost 2,000 Reds fans visited Accrington, with many standing in the uncovered away end with hailstones pelting down.
“The fans were brilliant. It’s open terrace and we’ve had all four seasons in one day. It’s just unfortunate they couldn’t suck the ball in at the end because that would have been a really nice one and changed the emotions. I imagine the supporters are a little bit frustrated because they probably saw us do enough to win the game.”
Norwood’s goal was his first for three months. Duff said: “It was a good goal. A quality ball by Adam (Phillips) and a good finish. We’ve had three goals in the last two games in the six-yard box which is where we want the strikers.”
Defender Robbie Cundy added: “A lot of the boys were frustrated after the game. It’s a tough one. We should have scored more. But we to look at the positives – we create chances and we’re six unbeaten.
“I didn’t see it (the penalty) but a lot of the boys are saying it’s quite harsh. I don’t think the ref helped us on a few occasions.
“We can’t blame the ref for everything. We had chances that we should have scored. We know we are better than we played.”
