Barnet boss Dean Brennan fumes at ‘really poor decision’ in late draw at Crawley

Barnet boss Dean Brennan criticised referee Harry Wager for “a really poor decision” after defender Geraldo Bajrami escaped what he thought should have been a straight red card in the 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Crawley.

With Barnet leading from a 56th-minute goal from Mark Shelton, Geraldo Bajrami, already on a booking, went unpunished for bringing down former Crawley forward Kabongo Tshimanga in the edge of the box.

Brennan, currently serving a nine-game ban, was livid, and said: “It was a really poor decision that has cost us.

“Kabby was pulled down, it was the biggest moment in the whole game and it didn’t go our way.

“Every manager in this division has issues with the refereeing.”

Barnet’s play-off challenge has faltered with only two wins in their last eight games, but Brennan was satisfied with the manner of the performance.

He added: “Every point is a point in the right direction – we’re striving to get in the play-offs.

“It was a good game with commitment from both teams, but we were the stronger.”

An 89th-minute from Danilo Orsi, his first goal in thirteen outings since returning to Crawley, rescued a draw for the Red Devils and puts them a point ahead of the bottom two in 21st place.

Boss Scott Lindsey felt it was the least that they deserved, saying: “We were really good, I am very pleased with the performance.

“How we didn’t score in the first half is beyond me, but some last-ditch tackles and blocks helped to deny us.

“We kept going and showed good character.

“I was disappointed with the goal obviously, we switched off in a moment and it cost us, but we showed really good character to keep going.”

Lindsey, whose team are now winless in nine games, felt they pushed Barnet back in the closing stages.

“We kept believing and showed real fight and desire,” he added.

“After the penalty we kept going again deep into added time and looked the team that was likely to win it.”