Phil Neumann scored the only goal of the game at Deepdale

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom slammed ‘bang out of order’ officiating in Tuesday’s 0-1 defeat to Birmingham City.

The Lilywhites fell to their first league loss of the campaign at Deepdale, with Phil Neumann’s goal on 33 minutes earning Blues all three points. PNE struggled to create many clear-cut chances but were aggrieved with the awarding of Birmingham’s goal - and a handful of turned down penalty shouts.

Post-match, Heckingbottom said: “They shouldn't be able to allow that much influence on a game of football, it's scandalous really. Anyone who watches us knows we are refereed to a different standard than everyone else and you can see that there today. You know you're in trouble when you can see from the half-way line what's happening.

“I wasn't going to say anything about it all, but when I'm looking back I feel I have to defend the club and the players and the fans. It's scandalous really. You're looking at the first free kick, Odel (Offiah) wins the ball, comes away with the ball and (they’re) saying he's caught Keshi Anderson in the face with his hand.

“They put the ball in, he scores with his arm. So we're up against it, but we performed really well and we're on top. A few minutes later Ben (Whiteman) gets - not a hand in the face - a swinging elbow in the face, busts his lip. Tommy Doyle’s nowhere near any of the ball; we had Sam Greenwood sent off for that last year, not in the box.

“Lewis Dobbin's dragged down once he's gone around Cashin... Cashin knows he can't get there, hooks his arm round Lewis , drags him to the floor. And then back to what they were giving the free kick for, apparently it's not a penalty on Milly because the ‘keeper got some of the ball, when he punched him with two fists in the face.

“So, Odel got all of the ball, maybe caught him with his little finger and they get a free kick. This is my point, it's just not good enough. We are reffed to a different standard, we've seen it over and over again, last season and this season. But these incidents are just rife amongst football.

“This is supposedly the fifth best league in the world and that, what we as Preston North End are given there, it's bang out of order. None of those should happen. To be fair, that's (Dobbin) the one I couldn't see properly from the other side. I could see our reaction, the players, but because he's hooked his arm and I’m that side, I couldn't see the hook.

“I said to the staff, I said to Bobby the fourth, it's pointless (trying to speak to them). You don't speak to them because the problem is once they know, and I've suffered from this so many times, once you've proved them wrong and you've got them in a corner, they just send you off. That's it, it's pointless, so I'm done speaking to them but we have to have them on the pitch.”

PNE boss on the performance

“I have to talk about the players and they were magnificent,” said Heckingbottom. “Really proud of them. What I’ve said before over and over, another game showing it's not about the money, it's not about what you spend, it's about preparing properly and then going out there and executing.

“Another game where our goalkeeper's not had a save to make, we've had however many shots - I think 13, 14 from inside the box - 40 odd crosses. So everything that we did, in terms of preparing in a couple of days, in terms of the players delivering, it was fantastic. When Andy's playing and Odel’s playing, they’re not going to be players who are going to come in and link inside.

“They're going to be on the outside. With Smudge and Jebbo, we wanted midfielders making the box and we did that. Ali maybe took one off Smudge in the first half, so yeah, we want to be that and when you're forcing them back, it tends to be the space that's wide. As the game wears on, you want the ball in the box quicker and faster.

“If you're having 13-14 shots in the box, and we'll look at ourselves and the type of finish, but the ‘keepers made some saves, they made a lot of blocks, we didn't get a lot of the ball to us... but then the more I thought about it and the more I was looking at the incidents, sometimes it's your pressure, energy, desire to go and win forces the errors, and we force the penalties there.

“So the referee gives the right decisions there, it's 3-0 to us, but we won't let that affect us. We need to deal with that in a different way. You can see how it started... at the start they wanted to pass the ball and one or two things we got wrong in how we went after them. We were a good side today again, and I enjoyed watching us play. I enjoyed the energy of us.”

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