Michael Duff furious with referee after goalless draw at Bristol Rovers

Barnsley boss Michael Duff hit out at referee Thomas Parsons over the “bizarre” decision to deny his promotion-chasing Tykes a penalty at the Memorial Stadium.

The former Cheltenham boss was furious after striker Devante Cole appeared to be pulled back by Bristol Rovers centre-back Lewis Gibson with the goal at his mercy an hour into the goalless stalemate.

Duff hit the proverbial roof on the touchline as Cole’s appeals for a spot-kick were waved away after he appeared to have been fouled while shaping to shoot inside the six-yard box.

And his dark mood deepened afterwards when he learned from his players that Parsons had missed what they insisted was a blatant handball as Barnsley were ultimately denied a fourth successive victory.

“We have been on the wrong side of the referee’s decision,” Duff said.

“The players’ reactions tell you everything. Devante is about to pass the ball into the net from a yard out when he goes over.

“And there’s a reason why he’s fallen over. He’s been pulled backwards and it’s not because the wind has blown him over.

“The fourth official told me the ref had seen it. He said he saw contact but there wasn’t enough contact which I find bizarre.

“The referee says there’s contact but not enough but it’s enough to knock him over so in my opinion it’s a penalty.

“The other was a handball in the goalmouth. I couldn’t really see clearly but my players are telling me one of their players scooped the ball with his arm.

“It should have been a pen and there’s no need to lie after the game. Their reaction tells you everything.”

Barnsley are now unbeaten in eight outings but midfielder Herbie Kane was unable to make the most of their best opening as his low drive was blocked by Gas keeper James Belshaw after he was teed up by striker James Norwood in the first half.

And Belshaw excelled himself again moments later when he tipped over Liam Kitching’s looping header over the crossbar in front of the travelling fans who were on their feet ready to celebrate.

But they would have been relieved to see on-loan Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah blast a close-range effort straight at goalkeeper Harry Isted just after the break and the tone was set for an exciting if goalless second-half.

“We weren’t quite at our best, in the first half particularly, but ultimately we’ve had two penalties not given and their goalkeeper’s got man of the match which is telling,” Duff added.

“You can’t be brilliant every week and we weren’t quite at the races so we should remember we’ve come away to a difficult place and will respect the point.

“We weren’t quite at it but saying that Herbie had an unbelievable chance and their goalkeeper’s come from nowhere with a save and then made a couple of good saves in the second half.

“The referee is not the reason why we drew. We weren’t clinical enough but in games this tight you need the referee to get the big decisions right.”

Rovers boss Joey Barton, who used to play with Duff at Burnley, expressed disappointment that his side had not claimed a surprise win.

“It was a good game against arguably the division’s form team and this was the true acid test for our progress,” Barton said.

“It was probably as tough a test at this juncture in our evolution as I could have asked for but the lads were outstanding and I’m proud of a lot of their performances.

“Barring one moment in the first half when we let them in, the lads were superb and I’m disappointed we haven’t converted one of our chances and caused a bit of an upset.

“Jarell was in there, making himself a nuisance and now he could have had four goals for us but his defensive performance would have warranted the winning goal because he’s a quality operator.

“As a team we’ve got a bit of confidence again and I hate saying this because they’re a great bunch of lads but our pitch is terrible and the cold snap coming isn’t going to help.

“Our pitch suited Barnsley more than us because they wanted to go direct and long and we tried to counter that by being more direct than we’d normally want to.”