Danny Cowley feels Colchester were hard done by during draw with Cheltenham
The hosts were on the wrong side of a penalty call and then reduced to 10 men.
Colchester United head coach Danny Cowley was unhappy with referee Alan Young after his side’s 1-1 draw with visitors Cheltenham Town.
The U’s went ahead in the 67th minute through Moses Sesay, who stroked home a low shot after breaking from midfield and exchanging passes with Ellis Iandolo.
However, Cheltenham equalised when Andreas Weimann converted a 78th-minute penalty, after Sean Raggett had handled Joe Tomlinson’s free-kick in the area.
And Colchester finished with only 10 men when substitute Jaden Williams was sent off in the 83rd minute for a foul on Robbie Cundy, as the points were shared.
Cowley said: “We all know how hard it is to win games at this level, so when you go 1-0 up you’re obviously really pleased and it was a really well-worked goal.
“It was well worthy of winning any game and we were in a good position in the game.
“It was a massive foul on Rags (Sean Raggett) that means that he’s completely off balance – you only have to piece it together, if you’re a competent official.
“Their left centre-half is an experienced player, offside to onside, he uses his body well, nudges him under the ball but it’s a clear foul – gives a penalty.
“We’re disappointed, we regain our composure but I’m sorry, people just need to look at that sending off.
“The level of understanding from the officials in what the laws of the games are – they don’t understand the game.
“If they understood the game, they would understand that all Jaden Williams is doing is getting his body and his leg across to protect the ball.”
Cheltenham boss Steve Cotterill said: “We should have won the game. We did enough to win it.
“We looked a bit leggy in the first 20 or 25 minutes, whether that was the long journey on Friday, which might still have been in us a little bit, I don’t know.
“We then grew into it, I thought we were the better team and in the second half, we definitely had good legs, fitness levels and we have created enough chances to take them.
“We just need to poke one of those over the line.
“I don’t know whether it actually helped Colchester going down to 10 men because then they could just bank in for the last little bit.
“Considering we played here last year and couldn’t win, played them at home and couldn’t win, I thought we gave them a really good game today.”
Cotterill added that he felt Williams’ red card was the correct decision.
“It’s a red card, but that didn’t make a lot of difference and it might have helped them a bit towards the end,” he added.