MK Dons boss roasts referee performance and takes aim at Sheffield Wednesday ‘time-wasting’ after Owls win

The Owls won out through a Josh Windass penalty, a decision the Dons manager said was ‘quite obviously’ wrong, going on to suggest the infringement took place outside the penalty area.

Manning also felt his side deserved a late penalty after Ben Heneghan tangled with Matt Dennis as the home side went in search of an equaliser.

It is the second time in two matches this season that an opposition manager has claimed his side should have been awarded a penalty against the Owls after Danny Cowley said similar for Portsmouth last week.

Manning, though, was rather more animated in his assessment of the referee’s performance.

“I'm extremely disappointed because the match was decided by the officials' mistake,” he said.

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“It was outside the box, by about half a yard, and for me that was quite obvious.

“And watching it back at the end, we could have got one when the centre-half comes across and two hands in the back of Matt Dennis is not a foul apparently. How the game was officiated was the biggest disappointment.

One of the areas officials have been instructed to clamp down on this season is around the so-called ‘dark arts’ teams tend to employ when protecting a scoreline.

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Teams have begun to routinely slow down stoppages in play and feign injury in an attempt to take time out of the game. Both sides were accused of it at stages in Wednesday’s opening day draw with Pompey and Manning pointed the finger at Wednesday again on Saturday.

“We had a meeting in the EFL in the summer about game management, time-wasting at throw ins and goal kicks, but they took an eternity,” he said.

“He can keep blowing his whistle and telling them to hurry up but it didn't do anything. I'm really disappointed with the standard of the officials today.”

Manning’s side finished in third place in League One last season but are still going in search of their first point – and goal – after back-to-back 1-0 defeats.