Stevenage will happily take a point from their League One game at Lincoln City says manager Steve Evans but he did point towards one decision which may have brought a winner.
The 0-0 draw at Sincil Bank was not the prettiest game of football but Evans felt a foul by Ethan Erhahon on Louis Thompson should have brought a second yellow for the Imps man, booked in the first period for dissent.
It was the only moment which looked like it could separate two teams who battled hard but were lacking quality throughout.
Evans said: "I think there were two teams that knew it was [an important game] and I think there was a lot of cancelling out going on.
"I don't remember our goalkeeper making a saving and I know there's certainly didn't so that tells you a lot of it was competed in the middle of the park.
"There was lots and lots of industry and the boys gave a shift.
"They are unbeaten in 10 now but they’ve not played the likes of us in the last six or seven.
"They found it a bit more intense today to try and win.
"And then, for me, there's a massive, massive, pivotal moment. I'm not for having a player sent off but the referee will justify why he doesn't give a second yellow for a free-kick five yards from the box.
"It's just a bad decision from the referee who I thought got around the pitch and was strong in his opinions.
"He gave me a yellow card for lifting my arms so I deserve that.
"Like I said, he is a strong referee but you have to issue a second yellow. It’s blatant and you saw all their players put their hands on their heads."
The point though could still be huge come the end of the season with results elsewhere favouring Boro too.
While the top five all won, only one of the four teams chasing Stevenage managed three points, that being Blackpool.
It keeps Evans' men three points inside the play-off places and with a game in hand on some of their chasers.
The boss though is keeping his feet on the ground.
He said: "We cannot influence anywhere other than what's happened here. That's the only game we could influence.
"We go home content but do we go home happy? The answer is no.
"If they go down to 10 men and we don't produce a chance or take a chance to score a goal, then we go away thinking it’s been down the middle, and two good teams who’ve gone to battle.
"Would a red card change the course of the game? Yes, it does, but did we do enough to win the game? No.
"Were we ever going to lose the game? No."
They did try to win it though with the Boro manager pointing towards a quadruple substitution inside the last 20 minutes as a sign of their desire for three points.
Evans said: "If we were a point away from guaranteeing a place in the play-offs, you would stick wouldn’t you.
"You would stick with those who are on the pitch and full-blooded in the game as they know what they are doing.
"But I just thought Reidy and Robbo worked incredibly hard in both halves without getting any joy.
"And we felt in the build-up that it was a big decision whether we played Oliver or not.
"He's trained really well in the last week and he came on the other night with a real presence, winning headers.
"Lincoln didn’t like it when he came on as all of a sudden he won every header.
"And when we get Vee into tune for the last 10 games, we have one hell of a target man that will win everything that comes into the box."
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