Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton insisted his side were denied a ‘stonewall’ penalty during their goalless draw with in-form Mansfield.

John-Joe O’Toole’s 64th-minute challenge on Aaron Collins inside the box provided the only major talking point at the Memorial Stadium as Nigel Clough’s Mansfield stretched their unbeaten League Two run to 11 games.

Collins was convinced it was a foul, but a well-placed linesman did not raise his flag and referee John Busby opted to book the striker for a dive.

The player reacted furiously, as did Barton in the dug-out, and after the game the Rovers manager had no doubts that his side should have been awarded the spot-kick.

He said: “The only person in the stadium who didn’t think it was a penalty was the referee. When an official gets it so wrong, it is difficult to keep the emotion in.

“I’m disappointed for the lads. It’s a stonewaller, but nothing about referees at this level surprises me anymore.

“I think even everyone involved with Mansfield thought it was a penalty. I thought we deserved the three points on the balance of play in the second half.

“We were the side really pushing on to win the game. In matches where there is nothing between the teams you are relying on big calls to be made correctly.

“It’s another point on the board and we have to go again on Tuesday. But if the referee had done his job properly it would have been three points.

“We knew Mansfield would come and try to slow things down to quieten the crowd and felt it best to have the worst of the wind in the first half.

“It meant we couldn’t play great football and they kept us pushed back. But we hung in there and earned the right to play in the second half.

“Right across the board, I thought the lads were superb after the break. Our fans got behind them and we looked the likely winners.”

Clough was far from displeased with a draw after the way the second half went.

“The game changed entirely at half time,” he said. “I was frustrated at half-time because we had dominated without doing enough to go and get a goal.

“They came out and put us under pressure in the second half. I expected that, which is why I was upset we weren’t ahead.

“Games don’t follow the same pattern for 90 minutes. If we had been two goals up, the way the second half panned out wouldn’t have mattered.

“The next stage now for our players is to sense when there is a game there for the taking, which this one was in the first 30 minutes.

“Get a lead and then defend accordingly. I thought the best part of our game today was the way we dealt with balls into our box.

“Despite the pressure they put us under, I don’t think they had a meaningful shot.

“We didn’t work their goalkeeper when we were on top either, but ours hasn’t had any real efforts to deal with.

“Conditions were difficult with the wind blowing around, but our attacking play was poor in and around the penalty area.

“Even the likes of Jamie Murphy looked a yard off it today. We weren’t quite at it going forward.

“There was just that spark in the final third missing from the team today.”