Both managers were left bemoaning penalty decisions that were not given as referee Graham Salisbury took centre stage in Tuesday night’s entertaining 1-1 League Two draw between Morecambe and Walsall.

Morecambe boss Derek Adams was sent off three minutes from time for showing his frustrations at a Salisbury decision moments after Aaron Wildig was brought down when running in on goal.

Walsall counterpart Darrell Clarke also annoyed that a foul on substitute Cameron Norman was only given as a free-kick when it looked to be in the area.

Adams said: “Aaron got himself on the end of a through ball and was being held back but he kept himself on his feet and if he had gone down it would have been a penalty and a sending off.

“The referee should have seen that and given a penalty but didn’t and I got sent off which was totally out of frustration at the decision.

“We were on top at that stage and a few minutes later, Liam McAlinden was pulled back when free on goal too with another foul and he (Salisbury) waved play on and I thought that was harsh too.”

The visitors opened the scoring after 37 minutes with a fine goal. Elijah Adebayo provided the assist with a superb low cross from the right-hand side that found Josh Gordon sliding in at the far post.

The striker’s first effort was superbly tipped onto the post by Morecambe goalkeeper Mark Halstead but he was perfectly placed to turn the rebound over the line from close range.

The Shrimps levelled 10 minutes from time when in-form midfielder Carlos Mendes Gomes got ahead of his marker to head a superb Ryan Cooney cross into the top left-hand corner.

Adams added: “Overall, I am really pleased with the spirit the lads showed again to come from behind.

“We kept plugging away and played some good football in terrible conditions and scored a deserved goal 10 minutes from time.

“The lads never know when they are beaten and it was a positive point as we moved up a place to eighth in the table with a game in hand of some of the others around us which is a good place to be at this stage of the season.”

Walsall boss Clarke felt his side did enough to take the three points.

He said: “I’m disappointed we didn’t win the game because we missed some gilt-edged chances and should have had a penalty which for me was a game changer as at 2-0 it would have been game over.

“It was nearly the perfect away performance on a tough night in horrendous conditions but I’ve used the word nearly too much this season because there have been a few games where we have taken the lead but not held onto it.

“It was frustrating again tonight that we haven’t seen the game out.

“We need to be a bit more ruthless when we are ahead and we are just searching for a bit more quality like we showed for our goal which came from a really good passage of play.”