Stanley boss John Coleman felt his side didn’t get the “rub of the green” during their 2-0 defeat against Plymouth at the Wham Stadium.

Matt Butcher and Conor Grant were both on target for the visitors either side of half time, while Mo Sangare was sent off for two bookable offences.

Coleman’s men have now lost three matches on the bounce and remain in the League One relegation zone.

Despite the result, the boss was pleased with his side’s display and believes referee James Bell got some key decisions wrong on the night.

“I am proud of our players, we were outstanding in difficult circumstances,” he said. “We took the game to them, even with 10 men, and we were unfortunate not to get a goal.

“I don’t think we deserved to lose the game on the balance of play, we just needed a break in the box which didn’t come for us. There were a lot of fantastic performances out there.

“I have been a manager for 24 years and I have never seen a team on the end of so many contentious decisions go against us like they did tonight.

“I am not under any illusions, there is no agenda, the referee has just got a lot of things wrong. In my opinion, he had an off night.

“We didn’t get the rub of the green and they had the luck – their first goal put us on the back foot and you can’t have a bigger fluke than that.

“The lads have shown we are not going to go down with a whimper, they showed fighting spirit.”