Ryan Lowe was again left frustrated with a decision which went against his side in the 1-0 defeat to Hull City.
Preston North End had two penalty shouts in the first half of the Sky Bet Championship clash, with Alan Browne and Liam Millar claiming fouls, but referee Martin Woods – standing in for the ill Lewis Smith – waved the appeals away.
PNE were most frustrated, though, in the 47th minute when Browne appeared to be brought down by defender Alfie Jones inside the area, however nothing was given.
From that point, the Lilywhites appeared to have all the momentum, but it was the hosts who took the front in the 68th minute through Jaden Philogene and that was enough to win the game.
Speaking about the decision, Ryan said: “I’m absolutely gutted over it and the players are, but we’ve got more than 2,000 fans coming away. They need to see it.
“They can’t walk away disappointed. They’ll be disappointed with the result like we are, but they’ve got to be given some moments as well and they haven’t been given it. I’m disappointed in it massively.
“I don’t really want to go too much at it. The referee stood in today; he wasn’t the official referee.
“When I found that it was like seven minutes to and I went and knocked on the door and when I saw him I said, ‘I ask you to be fair because you’re not set up. You haven’t done the right preparations to come into a game, so I’d like you to do the right things’.
“He said, ‘Yeah no problem,’ and Martin Atkinson said, ‘He’ll be fine’. I’m not saying he wasn’t but I’ll leave that to other people.
“There were some decisions out there today, and for them too to be honest with you. There were some decisions they didn’t get but it wasn’t good and it hasn’t helped us.”
Aside from the potential spot-kicks, there were other opportunities for PNE to get on the scoresheet, with Ched Evans and Millar among those to have presentable chances.
North End were building plenty of momentum in the early stages of the second half and it looked as though if a goal was to come it would be theirs, but the lively Philogene scored against the run of play.
Ryan said: “We were on top. We changed and brought Ched on. We changed shape and had that real impetus.
“Whitey (Ben Whiteman) was getting on the ball and passing forward and getting down the side.
“Ched was causing a bit of trouble which he always does. Milly (Milutin Osmajić) was looking more lively with a partner, and obviously we made subs when lads were tiring towards the end and we threw everything at it.
“There were a few decisions being made at the top end of the pitch which need to be a bit better for us to get opportunities, but we were in the ascendancy to go and score and potentially get a goal.”