MITCHELL Thomas pleaded his innocence after referee Keith Hill awarded a controversial penalty again the Clarets defender to end Burnley's long unbeaten run at Bristol Rovers yesterday.

Hill ruled that Thomas had made illegal contact with Rovers striker Jason Roberts and paved the way for Jamie Cureton to score the winner from the spot.

But the decision looked like just one of a string of bad calls by the referee.

And Thomas confirmed: "I think the referee said I pulled him aside but I didn't touch him.

"Not even the crowd were shouting. I don't know where it came from and the linesman was on that side which was most disappointing.

"I thought it was very unfortunate. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and I think you're going to get that in the game and I just think the referee spoiled the game really.

"It's good playing against a strong, bustling centre-forward. He was battling against me and me against him and I thoroughly enjoyed it." Thomas and Roberts, who were barely a yard apart in the whole match, were two of 10 players to be booked with Bristol defender Trevor Challis also receiving his marching orders late on.

However, those statistics didn't tell the story of the game, with Thomas adding: "There weren't any dirty challenges really. Any little thing he was getting his book out and players then are frightened to do anything."

But after getting that off his chest, the experienced defender immediately looked forward to Friday night's visit of Bournemouth and the chance to erase the memory of Burnley's first League defeat of the season.

"He's made his decision and we've got live with it. We'd gone 15 games unbeaten and now we've got to start again on Friday," Thomas said.

"It's a shame. We battled hard and it's terrible when you go down through the referee making a bad decision like that after working so hard.

"But you've got to live with it. We're going to bounce back on Friday and we're going to be ready for it."

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