"It's just not fair": Stanley boss fumes at referee after defeat to MK Dons

Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman was angry with referee Declan Bourne's performance in their 2-1 defeat to MK Dons on Saturday, claiming the game was 'not played according to the rules.'

Coleman felt aggrieved by refereeing decisions going against his side as Dons netted a winner in stoppage time courtesy of Joe Tomlinson's sixth goal of the season.

Six Accrington players and Coleman himself were shown yellow cards during the defeat at Stadium MK, while only one Dons player was booked - something which the Stanley boss took exception to.

"I'm sick to be honest," he said. "I'm getting sick of football, it's just not fair. I've just watched a game there that was not played out according to the rules.

"But when you're getting fouls for everything that moves, we're getting yellow cards and they're not getting yellow cards... The referees have a massive impact on the game, and he's changed the direction of the game. Everything was a foul for them. Our skipper was chopped down on the edge of the box, and they got the foul.

"They do their best, referees, but unfortunately they have an influence on the game."

Leading through Jack Nolan's 11th minute goal, Dons were off-the-pace in the first-half at Stadium MK, but came back into it in the second, with Jack Payne's 71st minute free-kick getting them level before Tomlinson's winner.

While pointing the finger at the officials, Coleman admitted though his side were also to blame for allowing the hosts back into the game.

He said: "If MK Dons don't realise how fortunate they were today, they won't improve.

"Having said that, we only had ourselves to blame. We stopped doing what we practiced. We stopped pressing them, we gave up possession and let them get a head of steam up.

"To give MK Dons their due, they stepped up in the second-half, we got ragged, lost our centre-half in the first-half, and lost our left-back in the week, which doesn't help.

"By the way the game got us pushed back in the second-half, we can't have any complaints about getting beat. We limited their chances but didn't offer up anything going the other way.

"I just don't think we got a fair crack of the whip today."