Rochdale Hornets coach Alan Kilshaw has launched a scathing attack on the performance of the officials after his side’s defeat to Batley.
The Hornets were down to ten men at one point as they went down 34-14 to the Bulldogs.
Ben Moores and Gary Middlehurst were shown yellow and red cards respectively for alleged punching, and five minutes later Jordan Case was sent to the bench for 10 minutes for the use of his knees.
Incredibly, the Hornets scored during that period, but still suffered their latest defeat as Matt Diskin’s side scored three times in either half.
Following the match, Kilshaw didn’t hold back on his assessment of the officials.
“I thought it was comical,” he said.
“We get a bad rep that we’re a bad team and referee’s come here with that in mind. We had a team that were giving penalties away and given a team warning, he could have penalised them three times in the next set and we didn’t get a penalty then for 20 minutes.
“Are you telling me around the ruck Batley were clean for 20 minutes? Not a chance.
“It’s our supporters and people who pay good money that I feel sorry for because it’s been ruined by those three blokes today, absolutely ruined.
“I’m really proud of our effort, I’m proud of everyone one of our players, we were scrambling and scored 12 v 10.
“We weren’t squeaky clean, but there was no way they were miles better than us. The ruck was really slow for us, but once again, because it’s us and the mindset of the officials, we get penalised.”