Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale says he is beyond frustrated that his side's good behaviour is being punished after David Wheeler was denied an 85th minute penalty against Bury.
The Grecians were drawing the match 1-1 at the time, with Arron Davies and former Grecian Daniel Nardiello on target in the first half. Therefore, had a penalty been given, for the foul on Wheeler, it would have been a massive boost to the Grecians, who were looking to close the three-point gap between them and Bury, in the final play-off place, with a victory.
As a result it could have massive impact on their promotion ambitions, but Tisdale says the repercussions are potentially worse than that.
"It can turn someone's view of working in the industry, it's as simple as that," he said. "The officials have an ally in me, but they are gradually turning me off them.
"They have always had an ally in me because I ask my players to play to the whistle, play to the rules and be honest, but the officials gradually undermining that and it is not just about the season it is about how someone views the industry and whether they want to work in it."
Wheeler didn't got to ground, even though he was also tugged on his way into the penalty area, and then clipped by Bury defender Jimmy McNulty just as he was about to shoot.
City have always been high up in the fair play table and Tisdale is proud that his players don't dive or berate officials.
However, it makes them a soft touch, on a subconscious. That is why he feels the decision not to award his side a penalty for the foul on Wheeler was not only a bad decision for the match itself, but for football as a whole.
"That is not a sentiment I have come across in the last 15 minutes, it has been the last two or three years," said Tisdale after the game. "It knocks the stuffing out of you. It is too easy to view someone that doesn't berate the officials, lightly. And then it is too easy not to give decisions our way.
"It instinctive and it is in the subconscious, but it is beyond frustrating. How it is not a penalty I do not know. Does a player have to fall over or be scythed to the ground to get a free-kick. Why can't it still be a free-kick just because he has tried to stay on his feet and get a shot away?
"That decision was not only a bad decision for the game it was an absolutely shocking decision for football.
"We ask our players to stay on their feet and it is a travesty when a player does that, when he is being clipped as he is shooting, and the penalty is not given. We believe the referee played on from 10 yards earlier (when Wheeler was pulled back by McNulty), but I don't see what advantage that was to us."
Tisdale didn't place the blame wholly on referee Nigel Miller though, admitting that the linesman should have helped him.
"He (the linesman) is entitled to make a decision so he is as much as culpable as the referee and it just incenses me. I'm really at a loss to what to say to the players, because it is a sending-off offence if he gives the foul outside the box and then it is a penalty if it is in the box. To get neither, with five minutes to go, is a travesty."
