Fleetwood Town unhappy with referee after sharing spoils at Crewe

Joey Barton’s right-hand man took post-match press duties due to the manager suffering with a “bad throat”.

But he was more likely too enraged by Tom Nield’s performance after costing the Cod Army two points in the play-off race.

Wes Burns put the visitors in front before Mika Mandron cancelled that out despite an apparent use of an arm.

There was also a goal ruled out before the break and huge shouts for a penalty turned down in the second half of a fiery contest.

And Hill admitted: “We should be talking about football but unfortunately both sides of the bench are talking about the referee’s performance.

“It was pretty poor by my standards and I’ve been in the game 20 years. He didn’t have a good game today.

“I think there was a foul on Charlie Mulgrew. I think there was an offside and I think there was a handball, so to miss three decisions for the goal that cost us... you can imagine us not being too happy.”

The Cod Army have gone four games unbeaten but frustratingly the last three have ended all square.

But Hill was delighted with the way the side stood up to another good footballing team and could have won with luck on their side.

He added: “Crewe are obviously a good team. The festive period throws up some mad results as well.

“But I thought the lads stuck to the game plan for the most part and unfortunately we were undone not by our own performance but by the referee’s performance.

“We looked solid and Crewe are a good team. They’ve got good rotations.

“They like to try and pull you out of shape and get their runners through the gaps that come from that."

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