Wrexham could only take a point on Tuesday night as Phil Parkinson’s side drew 2-2 away at relegation-threatened Cambridge United.
Phil Parkinson was looking for another away victory after watching Wrexham beat Exeter City 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Cambridge United were next up for Wrexham, with Neil Harris looking for a miracle in the battle against relegation.
Wrexham took the lead through George Dobson, but Cambridge flipped the game on its head with a goal from Liam Bennett and a contentious penalty from Josh Stokes.
Former Cambridge striker Sam Smith managed to find the leveller though, heading home Ryan Longman’s cross to make it 2-2.
Wrexham couldn’t find the winner, but a late goal was ruled out in controversial fashion, leaving Parkinson enraged.
Phil Parkinson reacts to Wrexham refereeing controversy
Elliot Lee’s corner was headed home at the back post, but referee Thomas Parsons disallowed the goal.
Wrexham’s celebrations were cut short with Parsons seemingly ruling that Lee’s corner had gone out of play before coming back in.
That decision was a tight one, but Wrexham can also feel aggrieved with the very soft penalty given in the second half.
Lewis Brunt was penalised for an apparent pull on Doug Loft, but there appeared to be minimal contact.
Parkinson was far from impressed and fumed when speaking to BBC Sport about both refereeing decisions.
Parkinson admitted that ‘raging’ would be an understatement for how he felt about referee Parsons’ performance.
The Wrexham boss suggested that the Cambridge penalty was ‘one of the worst penalty decisions’ he has ever witnessed.
Parkinson then suggested that ruling out the late Wrexham goal was ‘completely bizarre’, with his anger clear for all to see.
“The referee’s (Thomas Parsons) performance tonight, to say I’m raging is one of the biggest understatements in my 1,000 games,” said Parkinson.
“That penalty decision is one of the worst penalty decisions I’ve seen, similar to the Reading one, and to disallow the goal at the end is completely bizarre,” he added.
Phil Parkinson unhappy with Cambridge time-wasting
Parkinson’s rage was also apparent when speaking to Wrexham’s official YouTube channel.
Cambridge may have needed a victory to aid their survival hopes, but Parkinson felt that they were wasting time in the second half.
Parkinson was unhappy that Parsons never seemed to take any action to combat those dark arts, whilst adding that there was a lack of communication from the fourth official.
Parkinson branded the disallowed goal ‘unexplainable’ too, believing that there was ‘absolutely no way’ that the linesman could have been sure that the ball went out of play.
“The disallowed goal at the end is another decision where it’s unexplainable. There is no way, absolutely no way, that the linesman can be sure that ball’s gone out of play,” said Parkinson.
“This division is a really good division, we’ve enjoyed it this year. Not all, but some of the officials have been below the level, and that was a classic case of it tonight in terms of speeding the goalkeeper up.
“They were wasting time, he wasn’t even looking at the keeper, not once. Not once did he speak to the goalkeeper, the fourth official didn’t communicate, and that frustrated me a lot because we were obviously going to try and get the win,” he added.
Wrexham were given a favour by Shrewsbury Town as they drew at Wycombe Wanderers.
That leaves Parkinson’s side three points clear in the race for second place, with six games to play – though Wycombe have a game in hand.