LIAM Manning criticised the standard of refereeing in Sky Bet League One after watching his Oxford United team come away with three points despite two red cards in stoppage time.

The U’s led 2-1 at home to the 10 men of Bristol Rovers as the game entered injury time, however both Oisin Smyth and Stanley Mills were dismissed as Manning’s side held on at the end.

Jevani Brown had earlier been sent off after collecting two bookings for the Pirates, with Smyth then suffering a similar fate within seven minutes of coming on as a substitute.

Mills was then shown a straight red card by referee Simon Mather after a clash close to the touchline with Sam Finley.

When asked about the incident, Manning responded: “I need to see it back before I potentially get myself in trouble.

“I don’t want to talk about the referee to be honest, it’s not worth putting the energy into it.

“We made it hard for ourselves at the end with the discipline that we showed. We need to be more disciplined with the ball and not be giving opportunities to make mad decisions.

“Oisin has apologised and I need to look back at Stan’s, but from where I was stood, it looked extremely soft.”

Quizzed on the quality of refereeing in general, Manning said: “The level unfortunately with what we’re getting every week at the minute, for me doesn’t meet the standard that we need.

“It’s not to say everybody’s poor, there are some good referees at the level, but unfortunately there’s not enough.

“The frustrating thing is the big decisions in games and outcomes of games are being decided by them.

“It’s just that consistency which is extremely frustrating.

“I understand human errors are going to happen, they’re going to get bits right and wrong, but it’s just too many instances where it’s wrong.”