David Artell felt his spirited Crewe Alexandra side didn’t receive the rub of the green or the correct refereeing decision as we slipped to our third successive defeat at Tranmere this evening.
The league’s leading marksman, James Norwood, struck the only goal of the game to keep their play-off hopes very much and dent Crewe’s hopes of gatecrashing the top seven.
Crewe were in the game and Artell was angered with us not getting a late penalty after Shaun Miller was upended late on only for the assistant to wrongly flag for offside because a Tranmere player had purposely played the ball towards his own goalkeeper.
Following the defeat at Prenton Park, the Alex boss told the club’s official website: “I didn’t think there was too much separating the two sides and I didn’t think we got the rub of the green. We didn’t deal well enough with a long ball for their goal, we had a stonewall penalty when Shaun Miller was wrongly flagged for offside and Shaun missed a late chance.
“They were the three things that made all the difference tonight and I think we didn’t get what we deserved.
“We had the best chance of the game and I would expect Shaun to score. The decision for the penalty was scandalous. Their defender has played it and the assistant is 18 yards away. I am 80 yards and I can see it.
“I will go in and see the officials, not rant and rave but I look at it that I need to help them. I will ask them to explain why they think Shaun is offside because their player has meant to play it backwards and they need to know that. It is a massive decision to get wrong.
“The fans were terrific and they clapped us off at the end, because they appreciated the effort of the lads. We deserved more and they deserved more but we just fell the wrong side of it.
“It was a much better performance from us. There was a much better tempo and intensity to our play and we went toe-to-toe with a team that are good side and strong at home. They are going well.
The boss added: “We have come here and matched them and bettered them at times. The lads felt it was more like us this evening and I felt we deserved something from the game."