Mansfield Town

First team coach believes we were unlucky not to pick up points.

Micky Moore believes our team were unfortunate not to pick up points in this afternoon’s controversial 2-1 loss to Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park.

Our team made the perfect start in leafy Buckinghamshire as Matt Rhead escaped the attention of the hosts’ defence to power home a header from Adam Murray’s fourth-minute corner.

The Chairboys equalised courtesy of a debatable spot-kick on the half-hour mark – awarded by referee Darren Deadman, who judged Martin Riley to have handled a long-range shot by Paul Hayes.

Gareth Ainsworth’s team ultimately went on to snatch all three points thanks to a late header by Peter Murphy.

Reflecting on the game-changing incident which allowed the hosts to grab a fortuitous equaliser, Moore said: “Obviously it was a bit controversial.

“Firstly, from where we were, we didn’t think it was handball, personally, and secondly we all thought it was three or four yards outside the 18-yard box. So to get a decision like that is very frustrating.”

He continued: “We started off really well. We came out on the front foot, got ourselves in front, and then had two or three opportunities to kill the game.

“It was disappointing that we didn’t get the second goal as we were in the ascendency at that stage and it would have been good for us, but we didn’t and they got themselves back into the game and that rocked us for a few minutes.

“We didn’t deserve to lose today. If anything, I thought we played well enough to win it or at least get a draw, so it’s a massive disappointment to lose.

Despite today’s result, Moore insists there are plenty of positives which can be taken into our upcoming home games against high-flying Morecambe and managerless Carlisle United.

“There are lots of positives [we can take away from this game],” continued our first team coach. “I thought we played really well – we passed it well and created three or four good opportunities.

“I can’t really remember Dimi (Evtimov) having to make a save when you thought ‘They should score there’. There were more opportunities for ourselves when you thought ‘He should have scored here’ or ‘He should have scored there.”

“Rakish (Bingham) got his first 90 minutes in a long time, so I thought there were lots of positives.”