MARK Hughes cursed another penalty call that didn’t go City’s way in their goalless draw at Stockport.

Hughes was adamant referee Martin Coy was wrong not to penalise Will Collar for a nudge in the back on Alex Gilliead during the first half.

On a night of few chances, the Bantams chief felt yet again it was a key decision that went against his team.

“It’s a stonewall penalty, for goodness sake,” he said. “It’s ridiculous really.

"It was very similar to the one that Tyreik (Wright) had at Orient and at a very similar time of the game as well.

“The ref said he felt he’d slowed down to engage the contact. Well hard luck, he slowed down because he was going to whack the ball in the back of the net.

“He’s just adjusting his feet and he gets wiped out. Defenders can’t afford to make those type of challenges in the box - it’s a penalty, there’s no debate.

“No doubt, we’ll get another apology and we’ll lose points as a consequence but there you go.”

Harry Lewis made two saves in the second half - including one with his head to flick Neill Byrne’s close-range effort over the bar.

Hughes added: “There weren’t many good opportunities for either team. Obviously, Harry made the save at the back post when it hit him on the head.

“I think he was joining in with everybody else. There were so many headers on the night he decided to head it himself.

“It’s not easy to come here, you can see how they get results. They constantly shell balls into your box and hope to get a break.

“We didn’t create enough on the night but the opposition have got good energy, they run about and get big lads in front the ball and make it difficult for you.

"You start with a clean sheet and you make sure you don’t lose.

"As the game went on it was difficult to see any real clear-cut chances for either side so we had to make sure we protected what we had, which I thought we did quite comfortably.

"It's not the game we want to play, we want to get the ball down, pass and move and create chances but it was difficult to do that.”