Rival manager's half-time chat with the referee against Rotherham United

Opposition boss Gavin Cowan collared the referee at the interval of Rotherham United's clash with Shrewsbury Town to implore him not to be affected by pressure from home fans.

The Millers were leading 2-1 at AESSEAL New York Stadium on Saturday, but were down to 10 men following the dismissal of Kian Spence, when the Salop manager made his move.

Man in the middle James Oldham had angered supporters with a series of poor decision and had just been loudly booed off the pitch.

"At half-time, I talked to the referee and said the crowd were buoyant, to say the least," Cowan revealed. "I asked him to be strong. I didn't want any preferential treatment, of course, but I asked him not to cave in. The tackle from them warranted a sending-off."

Spence received a straight red card for missing the ball with a swipe of a leg while he was on the ground and making heavy contact with Shrews player Will Gray instead.

At the stage, Rotherham were 2-0 up. The Shrews went on to take a 3-2 lead before the Millers hit back to level, and the visitors later had a man dismissed themselves when Kian McMahon-Brown was given his matching orders for pushing Joe Rafferty in the chest.

Cowan believes his interval intervention failed to pay off, claiming the ref was twice at fault as the Millers bagged their 76th-minute equaliser through Tom Bradshaw's header from Jayce Fitzgerald's free-kick.

The boss believes the Derbyshire official wrongly gave a foul against Shrewsbury centre-half Will Boyle and allowed the set-piece to be taken closer to goal than it should have been.

"Boyley wins a perfectly clear header," Cowan said. "He (the ref) gives a free-kick and they then move the ball five yards forward.

"Listen, we've got to defend the free-kick. That's where we've got to be better. We pride ourselves on those set-pieces. The ref is five yards away from the incident. Boyley heads the ball into the back of their lad's head, and he gives a free-kick."