Grant McCann fumes over refereeing decisions in Doncaster’s draw at Crewe

Grant McCann was raging about refereeing decisions he claimed cost his Doncaster side victory at promotion rivals Crewe.

Owen Bailey’s 75th-minute header cancelled out Connor O’Riordan’s early goal for Crewe and salvaged a point for Rovers, who well below-par in the first half at Gresty Road.

McCann claimed O’Riordan’s 10th-minute strike, bundled in after a free-kick was laid back by Zac Williams, should have been ruled out for a handball against the giant centre-half, while he also felt his side were denied two “stonewall penalties”.

“There were three big moments in the game which the officials have got wrong and we’ve come away with a point from a game we should have won,” said the Doncaster manager.

“We’ve not had the rub of the green and it’s another phone call I will be making as the officiating wasn’t acceptable.

“O’Riordan handles the ball and I don’t know how we’ve not got two penalties. If it was in the Premier League they wouldn’t even need VAR, they would have just been awarded straight away.

“Crewe are a good team and we were outrun in the first – we were powder-puff. But we got stronger as the game wore on and the subs made a big impact. We made changes and were more positive.

“I would never question the effort of the players, although I did question why we’d let Crewe get on the front foot.”

Crewe carried a threat through veteran striker Kane Hemmings, who along with midfielder Conor Thomas was making his first start since September.

In contrast, Doncaster had veteran defender Richard Wood making his first since August and Crewe capitalised on a lack of pace at the back, going close to adding to their lead when Hemmings was thwarted by Teddy Sharman-Lowe, who tipped the frontman’s powerful header around the post.

It took another set-piece to get third-placed Rovers level as Bailey powered home a towering header from Luke Molyneux’s 75th-minute corner.

Crewe boss Lee Bell said: “It was a decent game of football between two good teams.

“We are bitterly disappointed about that one moment as Filip Marschall hasn’t really had a save to make up to then. They were building pressure in the second half but we had some really good opportunities to pick up a second and I thought we probably deserved a second goal.

“We showed great resilience and it was much better than the last home game (1-4 Fleetwood).

“The young lads at the back did well to cope with their three forwards. We had a strong bench today, which is good as it will give us options now it’s a nine-game season and there’s 27 points to play for.”