Conor Hourihane furious as Barnsley denied penalty before Mansfield equaliser

Barnsley manager Conor Hourihane was furious with a late penalty decision that went against his side in a thrilling 2-2 draw at Mansfield.

The Tykes were 2-1 up near the end when Hourihane believes Town’s Deji Oshilaja handled. Referee Martin Woods played on and the Stags went on to net a 94th-minute leveller through Stephen McLaughlin.

“Reyes Cleary had a shot and the lad had his hands over his head. How that was not given I will never know,” said Hourihane.

“It was handball and the referee has clearly got that one wrong. It’s really disappointing and frustrating.

“I thought our lads were outstanding on a horrible pitch today. We had to dig in and were well worthy of the win, so we are all hurting.

“Maybe we could have made the most of the transitions in the second half to kill the game off – and it was there to be killed off with the penalty decision. But the referee has somehow not seen it.

“It was disappointing to give a penalty away at 2-0 up and it changed the flow of the game. It gave them a leg up, though our lads handled it well.

“Their late equaliser would not have come along if we’d been given the penalty just before.”

Tom Bradshaw set up veteran David McGoldrick for a low 19th-minute opener, with both keepers making good saves before the interval.

It was then 2-0 on 49 minutes as a Scott Banks shot took a deflection and passed through Liam Roberts’ hands.

But eight minutes later Nathan Moriah-Welsh was upended in the box and Lucas Akins drilled home the penalty.

Both sides had other big penalty shouts turned down before, right at the death, McLaughlin dramatically buried a 12-yard finish after a long Elliott Hewitt throw was half-cleared to him.

Mansfield manager Nigel Clough said: “The exertions of the last week or two really caught up with us today as we’ve had lots of big games.

“We looked lethargic and were running out of steam. Some of the lads are on their knees with playing so many weeks of Saturday/Tuesday games.

“Then their second goal took quite a bit of a deflection and deceived Liam as he was so close to it. It just caught the bottom of Deji’s boot and went through him.

“But the way we responded was magnificent. It was all us pressing.

“The sooner you get back to 2-1 when you have gone 2-0 down, the more chance you’ve got – and we got the penalty, which was definitely a penalty.

“We then dominated and needed a break and had to wait until the 94th minute for it.

“The last three games this week have been brilliant for the supporters. We have won one, drawn one and lost one – the loss being against Arsenal (2-1 in the FA Cup)! But they have been three cracking games.

“We would have taken this after the pride but ultimate disappointment of losing to Arsenal, to bounce back with four points and two good performances.”