Boss Steve Cooper pointed to a “huge error” from the officials as Nottingham Forest’s winning run came to an end against Luton Town.
The Reds were not at their best as they fell 1-0 at Kenilworth Road to their promotion rivals. But some questionable officiating did not help their cause.
A controversial first-half penalty proved to be the difference between the two sides, as Kal Naismith was clinical from the spot after Jack Colback had been penalised for a handball.
Read more: How the Reds rated against Luton
Read more: Re-live Luton v Forest at Kenilworth Road
Forest had been flat in the opening 45 minutes, but they did improve after the break and had plenty of opportunities to get back in the game.
They thought they had done just that soon after the restart, when Djed Spence fired past James Shea into the back of the net. A late offside flag put paid to the celebrations, however - much to the chagrin of Cooper.
“First half, I know we didn’t play as good as we’ve been. But I don’t think there was anything in the game,” he said.
“The penalty was the difference at half-time. There was no doubt we needed to play better in the second half, and we did.
“We created a load of chances. For me, the Djed Spence goal is a huge error from the linesman. The left wing-back has played an obvious attempt, and played Djed in. That’s cost us.
“In saying that, we’ve missed a load of good chances. We had a couple in the first half, with Grabbs. And we created more than enough chances in the second half to get at least one.
“There’s no doubt the best team in the game lost. But sometimes it goes that way.”
