Karl Robinson was frustrated with refereeing decisions that went against his Salford City side as they were beaten 3-2 by Cheltenham Town.
Midfielder Jorge Grant fired Salford into the lead after six minutes and had an effort from outside the box saved before the interval as the visitors controlled proceedings in the first half.
But the turning point in the game came when Salford captain Luke Garbutt was sent off early in the second half for a foul on Jake Bickerstaff in the box, with Isaac Hutchinson converting the resulting penalty in the 51st minute.
Despite being a man down, the Ammies restored their lead when centre-back Zach Awe rifled home a low shot after the ball had broken to him in the box.
But Cheltenham turned the game on its head to condemn Salford to a fourth successive defeat in all competitions.
Harry Ashfield drove forward from the halfway line and curled a low shot into the bottom corner to level six minutes from time, before George Miller’s 96th-minute header dealt another blow to Salford’s promotion hopes.
After the match, Robinson felt that key decisions went against his team in Gloucestershire.
He said: “For 11 v 11 we were very good. We showed an impetus and control, up until the sending off and the penalty.
“It’s a double whammy when that happens and when two people come together fairly like that, it wasn’t like Garbs was seeking to gain an advantage. Both of them had hold of each other.
“To see 10 minutes added time go up, I find baffling, but we have to accept it.
“Of the bits we had control of, I am most disappointed with their second goal.”
“That’s something we have to accept. The other aspects of it, we’ll keep our thoughts internal on that.”
After Salford City were narrowly beaten by Manchester City 2-0 in the FA Cup, he said that the team “have to get out of League Two.”
However, back-to-back defeats against bottom-of-the-table Newport County and struggling Cheltenham have done little to prove that his side are too strong for England’s fourth tier.
Following the Ammies defeat in Cheltenham, he highlighted that the group is “working hard to turn it around and make it happen,” suggestin their is still belief the club can string together a run of results and achieve their automatic promption aims.
Salford City face an early test of their promotion credentials when they host in-form Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday, 7:45pm kick-off at the Peninsula Stadium.
