'Big decisions going against us': Luton Town boss lashes out at officials after being well beaten by Burnley

Scott Parker’s men made it 23 league games unbeaten thanks to a dominant 4-0 victory against the relegation-threatened Hatters at Turf Moor on Saturday.

The first goal came via a Mark McGuinness own goal, not long after the visitors had been reduced to 10 men when Kal Naismith was sent off for two bookable offences.

The Clarets took charge of the game from that point onwards and ran in three further goals through Lyle Foster, Josh Brownhill and Ashley Barnes.

Despite the one-sided nature of the scoreline, Bloomfield felt the game could have looked a lot different had referee Stephen Martin made some more favourable decisions.

“These things are having a big impact on us at the moment,” he told our sister paper, Luton Today.

"I don’t want to be talking about refereeing decisions, our supporters don’t want to listen to me talking about refereeing decisions, it’s not what I want to do. But the facts are there at the moment. There’s big decisions that are going against us.

"For the first 18 minutes I thought we were excellent, our shape was very, very good. We were disciplined.

"There were a few turnover moments where we were able to hit Burnley on the counter-attack and we limited them to very little with 11 men, but with 10 men it was always going to be a tough afternoon for us.

"It was a penalty, the third goal the ball’s off the pitch, the second goal Zack [Nelson] has to dribble around the referee and then gets tackled and we have a penalty, Christ [Makosso] heads the ball and then gets kicked, not given.

"I think [for the Nelson incident], the rule is if the ball hits the referee it has to stop, but it’s a grey area. If he gets in the way but it doesn’t hit him you would expect him to stop the game, but he didn’t.

"I’ve watched [the third goal] back and it's out. He has to [see it].

"At 2-0 we’ve come out and you fancy trying to get one and you’re still in the game, but at 3-0 it’s tough, especially coming so soon after half-time. These are major decisions that affect results of football matches and they have to be seen, but they weren’t.”

Bloomfield did, however, question Naismith’s decision to clatter into Josh Brownhill when already on a booking.

“He knows he doesn't [need to make the tackle],” he said.

"In my opinion, the first one's not a yellow. It's right in front of me, he gets the ball. I know his momentum takes him into the player, but Kal's disappointed, understandably so.

"He’s an experienced boy, he knows the game, he understands the game and he's extremely disappointed in there, but I'm not going to stand here and criticise him.”

Luton, who have only won once away from home all season, sit second from bottom in the Championship and five points adrift of safety.