Neil Harris labelled referee Ed Duckworth “atrocious” after Cambridge’s draw with Burton.
The Sky Bet League One clash ended goalless and the U’s left frustrated after failing to break the visitors down despite Steve Seddon being sent off for the third time this season.
Cambridge enjoyed the better of the chances even before the red card in the 64th minute and dominated the closing stages but were unable to break through.
“We were miles the better team. We all know that,” Harris said. “We were miles better 11-v-11, we were miles better 11-v-10.
“So there are loads and loads of positives but we didn’t do the important thing and that’s putting the ball in the net.
“I just said to the boys that everything I asked for in the play was there other than…that final decision-making which was little bit off at times.
“I’ve been praising the players when they do well; I’m entitled to say ‘come on, I need a little bit more than that in the final third’.
“I thought the referee got the decision right, it was a second yellow card. I thought the referee was atrocious. He caused a lot of the problems.
“It was disappointing but that didn’t stop us winning the game. Not winning the game was down to our decision-making. We did enough today to get to the final third, just in those final moments we need to make sure we’re a lot better in the future.”
Burton boss Martin Paterson praised his side’s resilience as they secured a point on the road.
“I can’t speak highly enough of what the boys have done today, and I’m ever so proud,” Paterson said.
“They had moments, but I thought the group were fantastic in the way they defended, especially when they went down to 10 men.
“There are things in the first half that I think we can improve, quite quickly. I made them aware of that: not bad, good result but there’s things we can massively improve.
“We didn’t start the game as well as we could have done. I thought they were good. Everyone forgets that. You look at it intrinsically but then you don’t look at the opposition. So credit to them, I thought they were good.
“They’ve got players who have played in the Premier League, so you’re never always going to get your own way, but the group dug in and they showed the framework of what they do.
“At the moment in this division it’s really hard to get points away from home. The defensive unit were excellent, and again I’m going to use the word ‘proud’.”
