Mark Hughes insisted “too many things went against us” as Carlisle United fell to another defeat at Chesterfield.
Substitute Elliot Embleton was sent off as the ten-man Blues lost 2-1 to move closer to relegation.
Head coach Hughes questioned the decision of referee Andrew Humphries to dismiss Embleton and said other decisions went against United.
That, plus injuries suffered before and during the game, meant Carlisle never had a realistic opportunity to win such a crucial game, the Blues boss said.
Chesterfield laid siege to United’s goal and racked up 38 shots, eventually breaking through in the second half through Liam Mandeville and ex-Blues man Paddy Madden, before Joe Hugill’s late consolation.
The straight red card for substitute Embleton, for his challenge on Armando Dobra just ten minutes after coming on, was a key moment and Hughes said: “We've looked at it, but [the camera angle] is from the opposite side, so it's difficult.
“It's not a clear image. My view was it was just an unfortunate injury.
“They are sore if you get it down near the achilles. I've had them in the past. It's not great, but the lad was able to continue.
“He was not mortally wounded, and there we go – we're down to ten men.
“I just thought the officials, for whatever reason, wanted to get involved. It didn't seem like a correct decision from my point of view.
“The fourth official wasn't great in terms of his mood and personality from the first minute of the game to the last.
“I think the referee, in the last four or so games…someone told me he sends somebody off in every game he's had in League Two. So maybe it’s in the back of their minds that he likes to sent people off.”
United's defence react after Chesterfield's second goal (Image: Richard Parkes)
Hughes also questioned why the incident where Sam Lavelle was caught in the face by “the flinging of an arm” by Ollie Banks went unpunished.
Lavelle limped off with an ankle injury while Sean Fusire also had to be replaced with an injury in the first half – after Matt Dennis pulled out with a hamstring injury in the warm-up.
The incidents happened in succession as United fell to their latest defeat which leaves them still nine points from safety with just six games left and relegation to the National League looking all the more inevitable.
Carlisle never looked like claiming the victory they desperately needed at the SMH Group Stadium.
Hughes said: “I thought we stuck at it [after the red card].
“We were never going to have wave after wave attack going towards their goal. That just doesn't happen in football. It's crazy to think it would.
“So we just needed to stay in the game, which we did. We kept our shape reasonably well, got men behind the ball, waited for an opportunity to release the pace that we had up top, but we didn't do it on too many occasions.
“You've got to factor in the opposition. They're not going to allow you to do that. If they're a good, accomplished team, which Chesterfield are, then chances, even with the full complement of players, are going to be few and far between, so we've got to accept that.
“We tried everything. We changed shape. Personnel had to change, we had to rearrange shape as a consequence of the events in the match.
“I've not been involved in a game like that for quite some time, I have to say, given all the things that were thrown at us, so hopefully that'll be the last one.”
On United’s dwindling survival hopes, Hughes said he was “realistic” about the difficulty of the task.
He added: “We've got less games, clearly, so that makes it more difficult. But the gap hasn't changed, so to that extent, we still know where we are.
“We'll go into the game [on Saturday against Newport County] with the view that we've still got to get maximum points out of these games that we have left.
“That's always been our view and that's always been our intention.”
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