Gary Rowett was in disbelief at Oxford United's lack of a penalty in his side's 2-1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday afternoon.
Will Lankshear, who went on to open the scoring at the Hawthorns, looked to be hauled to the ground by Baggies centre back Nat Phillips as he tried to bring the ball down and turn in the box.
Will Lankshear under pressure from Krystian Bielik (Image: Mike Allen)
The Tottenham Hotspur did go on to score for the U's, but the hosts hit back just two minutes later with a Greg Leigh own goal before finding a winner in the 70th minute through Aune Heggebo.
"I was told that both player are pulling each other," Rowett revealed.
"Sometimes it's such an easy thing to say in that moment but we haven't had a penalty for well over a year now which feels quite bizarre.
READ MORE: Oxford United defeated despite Will Lankshear opener against West Brom
"Will was backing in, he's strong, I thought he was a handful today. It felt as though Phillips had just sort of dragged him to the ground.
"If that's in the middle of the pitch, you're going to get a foul straight away. I understand that sometimes the jeopardy level in the box has to be higher, but you can't get a lot higher can you than a striker turning, about to shoot, and gets dragged to the ground.
"It feels a little bit like when you're a smaller team, you have to do a little bit to get those moments. That's what it feels like.
U's fans applaud at the Hawthorns (Image: Mike Allen)
"I don't think it necessarily changes the game... I thought West Brom were better than us overall."
The U's suffered an early onslaught in the first half before the game slowed as it progressed.
West Brom had 15 shots to the Yellows' two, but both sides could only force one save each from the respective goalkeepers.
READ MORE: West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Oxford United: Championship live
Starting the second period well, United gave up their lead to the Baggies who had not won from a losing position since the first game of last season.
"I don't think you could say that we were so good we deserved to win the game," the 51-year-old boss continued.
"We don't perform fantastically in the first half but we're quite resilient. We defend the box well. We defend around the edge of the box quite well.
"You come in at 0-0, the crowd are a little bit disgruntled with 0-0 against us at half time and I understand that; that's just the way it works. So, great. That's perfect for us. We come in a little bit frustrated with our own performance. I said to the players, listen, we're in a good position [and] we've just got to step up our game a little bit. And we stepped up a little bit. We score a good goal.
"I think that's the frustration: we don't give ourselves a chance. And it's happened a lot this season. We don't give ourselves a chance to create a better foothold in the game. We look like we're going to concede too many goals in those type of moments.
"We should defend that [second goal]. You'd expect us to defend that.
"I think last season that's a game we go and get something out of.
"We're Oxford United, we're in the Championship. It's a tough old league. We're not going to come here and just roll teams over two or three nil. What we're going to have to do is we're going to have to fight and make sure things go on our side."