‘It is a red card - Burton boss bemoans officials decisions despite win at Bristol Rovers

Burton Albion boss Dino Maamria was unhappy with several refereeing decisions in their 2-1 win over Bristol Rovers.

His side handed Rovers their fifth loss in six games, and it could have been more if not for several saves from Ellery Balcombe and the offside flag. Burton bounced back from going a goal down and when they got back on level terms they did not look back.

Burton had considerably less possession with only 38% but half of their 18 shots landed on target and they came away from the Memorial Stadium with all three points.

“We took control of the game,” he began. Yes we won the game 2-1 but really it should have been three or four because there is clearly a goal onside, it’s unbelievable.

“I think we had 18 shots, nine on target compared to their two so overall it is a fully deserved win.

“They have some quality there, if you look at their front line they are full of goals so you are always going to come to places like this and concede goals. You have to defend really well and we were unfortunate to concede but we grew into the game from then on.

“We have to show consistency in the officiating, we have to communicate better and they have to do their jobs better as well because if they scored late on and we end up dropping two points, a lot of questions will be asked.”

The Gas took the lead inside ten minutes after James Gibbons’ cross met the head of John Marquis, however goals either side of the break from Charlie Kirk and Sam Winnall gave all three points to the away side.

It could have been worse for Joey Barton’s side however, after Balcombe spilled a shot from the edge of the area and Dale Taylor was on hand to tap the ball in. Balcombe’s blushes were spared however, when the linesman flag was raised.

He said: “That is not forgivable, it’s not even a tight offside, my player was two yards onside. He taps it in for the third goal to see the game out and the linesman has seen offside.”

“It’s never easy coming to places like this, the pitch is very bobbly, the wind and we didn’t start the game well. We conceded, we had a player come off early and had to change shape straight away and the shape worked really well.”

The Gas scored only their second goal in six games, and scored first for the first time since New Year’s Day after Marquis’ downward header beat Craig Macgillvray.

Barton’s side were caught on the break after a corner however, and Kirk was unmarked in the box to equalise for his side a minute before the break against the run of play.

Rovers never really got going in the second half, and Burton went ahead ten minutes into the second half after Winnall was in the right place at the right time to fire home, after a block from Jarell Quansah on the line. Winnall got injured while scoring, after a challenge put in by Antony Evans. A challenge that Maamria was not happy with.

“He got chopped off the ball, and obviously the officials missed it. We’re delighted we got the goal but it was a really poor challenge from their player and now we don’t know how long we are going to be without Sam for.”

“It’s late, if that happens anywhere else in the pitch it is a red card but because Sam Winnall scored the goal then they thought he got the goal he doesn’t need to do anything else but it was a really bad challenge.”