Neal Ardley pointed an accusing finger at the officials on Saturday following AFC Wimbledon’s 2-1 defeat at home to Oxford United.

Dons, who started the match fifth in League Two, dropped out of the play-off places after goals from former Don Danny Hylton and Jordan Bowery sandwiched an Andy Barcham leveller.

More than 4,600 fans crammed into the Cherry Red Records stadium for the top of the table clash, and Ardley believed the home fans should not have been left with no points to cheer.

“Oxford did not deserve to win, I have looked at the stats – we’ve had 15 attempts on goal, eight on target, and they’ve had 10 on goal, four on target,” he said.

“However, I was really disappointed with the officials on their first goal because it is a foul on our goalie.

“As he tries to kick it out, Hylton runs across his legs and you don’t follow through with the kick and you end up with a bad kick.

“They get a throw in, and it’s a long throw into the box with his right leg off the floor, the linesman who is standing next to him doesn’t see it is a foul throw.

“Then we’re 1-0 down and it’s from a goal kick that should have been a free-kick, and a foul throw, so it was a disappointing start from the officials.

“It’s not an excuse, it’s a fact. I always watch it back before I make comments.”

He added: “But we’ve had four or five really good chances, one has hit the crossbar at the end and it drops to the goalie who is laying on the floor – when that happens you know it is not your day.

“We rode our luck on Tuesday [v Carlisle United], but against Oxford it never dropped for us. We’ve had two cleared off the line and they have punished us.

“Ultimately there will be negative people who go away moaning that we can’t beat the teams at the top, but we’ve had a good go at it and it has not fallen our way.”