Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray hoping not to get touchline ban at Oxford United

Murray felt many of referee Mark Heywood’s decisions were going against his side and, just after the West Yorkshire whistler had given Morecambe a second penalty decisions, a throw-in decision saw Murray jump into the air in anger and was sent to the stands.

Murray said today “I spoke to him afterwards. He gave me his side and I gave him my side. We will see what comes back today and if there are any repercussions.

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Click HERE to read Adam Murray’s post-match comments

“But I thought it was harsh to be honest and I told the ref that.

“Certain things happened during the game that from their side were not right. I am not just on about decisions, but I won’t go into that just yet.

“But I think he has actually sent me off for my reaction after the second penalty. It wasn’t my reaction to the penalty, it was my reaction to a throw-in right in front of me.

“The ball has blatantly come off their lad, we were defending for our lives, we’d already had two penalties against us, and I thought there was an inconsistency in the decisions – the same fouls not being given fairly on both teams.

“It wasn’t as if I’d verbally said anything. I think my body language kind of did it for me. But I am animated. I am passionate. If you’re going to send me to the stands for that, then okay.”

Murray has only been in the job since November 2014 and is hoping his unblemished record so far will stand him in good stead.

“Because it is my first offence, my record is clean,” he said.

“So if it was something that carries a ban, which would be harsh, I am hoping they would look at my record and say, look, he does work with the refs.

“I have a close relationship with head of refereeing David Allison and I speak to him constantly. I do all the referee reports myself.

“It is something as a player that I wasn’t very good at. So as a manager, over the 18 months I’ve tried to build up a rappore with the guys.

“Sometimes in the heat of the moment things happen and I am hoping they will take that into consideration.

“I am not someone that ‘ref-bashes’ and I understand they have a tough job.

“But if they do feel they need to stick me in the stand then we’ve got enough here to sort that out.”

Stags head to third-placed Oxford in fifth place with three wins on the bounce under their belts.

A win would pull them to within a point of Oxford and the automatic promotion spots.