BURNLEY boss Steve Cotterill has slammed the officials after last night's embarrassing Carling Cup defeat to Hartlepool.

Looking stunned after watching his Championship side slump to their League Two opponents the Clarets boss admitted he was upset with several decisions, not least the red card for captain Wayne Thomas, which also cost his side a penalty and a place in the lucrative second round of the competition.

On the sending off he said: "If he (referee Carl Boyeson) saw that it's the only thing he did see."

He added: "I don't know who was worse tonight, whether it was us or the officials because I thought they were as poor as we were tonight.

"I didn't think we got anything all night. It ended up getting very frustrating for us but what can you say about it. It's just one of those nights. It doesn't taste very nice."

Just under 4,000 fans turned out for the match and so often in these cup competitions they have watched their side compete with the very best.

But Cotterill was left scratching his head in frustration after Burnley lost their second match on the trot at Turf Moor.

And he couldn't hide his disappointment at exiting the cup at such an early stage with what he described as a "well below average" performance.

He said: "That's twice now. We talked about that on Saturday about the shape for the goal and we've shot ourselves in the foot again."