A dramatic 94th minute Tranmere penalty was enough to sink Oldham Athletic on Saturday leaving fuming Latics’ boss Lee Johnson claiming that the ‘better side lost’.
Johnson was sent to the stands after his furious reaction to the award of the penalty which saw him kick his jacket into the stands.
Ryan Lowe converted the spot-kick after he was judged to have been fouled by Mark Oxley.
“You could see what I thought about the penalty when I volleyed my jacket about four rows back,” the 32-year-old said.
“I have seen the incident again on the DVD and, all I can say, is that my reaction was justified.”
Two changes were made from last week’s victory over Port Vale as Italian Matteo Lanzoni marked his debut by winning the man-of-the-match award and Dutchman Sidney Schmeltz made his first Oldham start.
Slovakian Albert Rusnak, signed on loan from Manchester City to replace Jose Baxter, came off the bench but despite creating numerous chances Athletic slumped to a third successive defeat to Rovers.
“It was disappointing and a horrible one. There were some good bits to our play and bad bits,” added Johnson
“On another day we might have scored three, but we didn’t. We nearly kept a clean sheet, but didn’t and were done by two poor decisions.
“We played well in patches and, just when everybody was getting off their seats, the final ball wasn’t quite right or the final contact.
“I think you saw we were the better side, yet Tranmere have come out and nicked a win they ought never to have got.”
After former manager Ronnie Moore walked away with the points, Oldham will have the opportunity to bounce back when they travel to Shrewsbury on Tuesday for the first round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
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