Scott Brown believes his Fleetwood Town side were denied a "clear and obvious penalty" in their 2-1 defeat to Bristol Rovers on Monday.
The Celtic hero's side went ahead at Highbury Stadium through Jayden Stockley's first-half header, but Joey Barton's Gas surged back in the second half and hit the front through goals from Lewis Gibson and Grant Ward.
But with the score at 1-1, the Cods had a penalty shout turned down when Shaun Rooney claimed he was fouled by Gibson on the hour mark. Referee Sam Barrrott waved away the appeals and the Gas went ahead five minutes later through Ward's fortuitous winner, with his cross bamboozling goalkeeper Jay Lynch and flying into the net.
Brown, speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire after the game, believes his players were hard done by.
"These lads work so hard, they give everything," he said. "It was disappointing in the end with the result, but the performance level was definitely good enough to at least get a point or even win the game.
"It was more about a refereeing decision yet again. It was a clear and obvious penalty, he's clipped his heels in the box and there is no need for Roons to fall down because he's going to square the ball with Jayden and Jack in the box.
"It's another decision that the referee got (wrong). If we go and score the penalty, we are right back in the game and you've still got a lot of time to go, but for us, it wasn't to be and I'm a little bit disappointed with the referee's performance and the linesmen, especially on our side."
Contentious referring has been a theme of the meetings between Rovers and Fleetwood this season. In November's 2-2 draw at the Mem, Barton was sent off for airing his frustrations at referee Bobby Madden shortly before Rooney scored an equaliser deep into stoppage time.
Brown suggested Fleetwood will ask for an explanation from Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), which oversees officiating in the EFL and Premier League, and he expects an apology.
"It doesn't really matter, that," he replied when asked if would speak to Mr Barrott after Monday's game. "You go in there and they have probably sorted their story out beforehand. For us, we probably need to go above their head and we will probably get another apology.
"That's the disappointing thing. It's been the last two weeks, we got a penalty against us when by all means, we weren't the better team, but I thought we did really well (against Rovers) and it's a bit of injustice for the lads not to at least get that opportunity to go square."
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