Shaw frustrated with Cottingham's '˜ridiculous' reaction that earned red and '˜poor' referee

Tigers have taken one point from their last nine, and the 1-0 defeat by Bridlington saw them fall further behind title favourites sTadcaster Albion and Handsworth Parramore.

Shaw wasn’t happy with the performance of the referee, but made no defence of his player’s petulant action in the first half.

“The Cotts sending off I didn’t see, but I’m told he kicked out at their player,” he said.

“So I’ve gone through him in the dressing room because he’s cost us.

“We’ve had eight stupid bookings from him this season. To do that is ridiculous.”

The Worksop boss felt the referee missed a sending off offence much earlier in the match.

Giving his take on the challenge that halted Kyle Jordan as he ran into the box, one that resulted in just a penalty, Shaw said: “I think the referee has had a really poor game.

“I think it all started with the penalty. He’s the last man, KJ is one on one with the goalkeeper and the defender has rugby tackled him. He’s the last man, he should go.

“And KJ should do better with the penalty, it wasn’t good enough. He should have scored. It would have relieved the pressure.”

And at a time when the club desperately needed a performance, Shaw said his players had not done enough.

“What’s a manager to do? I’m doing all I can with what I’ve got available, trying to bring players in to strengthen and keep things alive, and we keep getting dealt a bad hand.

“We’ve got injuries coming out of our ears. Booth, Harrison, Henshaw and Roe are all struggling. Julian Lawrence is playing injured.

“Everyone looks at us as a big team they want to come and beat, that’s what we’re up against.

“I’m pulling my hair out at times, the cohesion from the players is not good enough and it’s really disappointing.

“They’ve not helped themselves today and they’ve not helped me out. I’m very disappointed.”