Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough may appeal one red card but furious over the second in defeat by Harrogate Town

He felt Ollie Clarke was unlucky to be adjudged as the last man as he fouled Jack Diamond, but he was furious that experienced Stephen Quinn then lost his discipline seconds later and left them with nine men.

“I am not sure it's a clear goalscoring opportunity with Ollie,” he said.

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“Richard Nartey is a yard or so behind. I don't think that was clear enough to send him off.

“We will have a good look at it and appeal it, but it's unlikely we'll succeed as you know what happens with a lot of these appeals.

“With Stephen Quinn, the assistant said he'd seen a kick and if that's the case it's inexcusable and he will be fined and dealt with accordingly.

“There was no excuse for that at all, especially with his experience.”

It was a third straight defeat for Clough's men but he said: “The performance overall wasn't too bad. We just keep conceding very poor goals at very poor times and making poor decisions.

“The number of times we concede not long after scoring has been far too often this season

“To get the start we did was fantastic so within a minute we concede from a free header from a corner - someone is not doing their job again.

“Then George Maris' decision in the 46th minute absolutely defied all logic and common sense.

“We still have a problem at centre half without a doubt and we will have until James Perch is back on the pitch.

“I thought Richard Nartey was good. I was very pleased with his debut.

“He got booked early on but we have been lacking some aggression and at least we showed a bit of that all over the pitch today which was nice.

“Unfortunately it was misguided in the case of Stephen Quinn.”

He added: “I was pleased that, at 3-1 with nine men, they could have gone on and scored four or five and the scoreline could have been a lot worse.

“We have had a bad three weeks and we now have to press the reset button and start again next Saturday.”

Clough has been unhappy with referee’s decisions in recent weeks and after several went against his side today, he said:

“I don't want to moan about referees but they are playing an instrumental part in our results at the moment, going back to Colchester and the penalty in the 93rd minute. Especially the other night at Harrogate and again today.

“We just want fair and just decisions. We don't want anything going in our favour that's not deserved.

“We do feel like we are not getting a decision or a break at the moment.”