Adams questions Ridehalgh red

Tranmere boss Micky Adams hit out at referee Keith Hill for his decision to show an early red card to Liam Ridehalgh at Burton.

Rovers were reduced to 10 men after 23 minutes when Ridehalgh bundled over Kelvin Maynard inside the box. Hill felt Maynard was clean through and sent off the defender, before Damien McCrory fired Burton ahead from the resulting penalty. It was Tranmere's first defeat in six games in all competitions, but Adams thought the red card left his side in an impossible situation. "We'll never know how good or bad we could have been," he said. "We never got a chance. "I've no problems with the penalty. I think it was a penalty. But the sending off was ridiculous. "The referee says their player was clean through on goal - he's not. He was going away from goal. "So I'm very, very disappointed with that decision and, obviously, the game changes on that. "Yes, we'd have been a goal down, and yes, we'd have been chasing the game. But we would have had a chance." However, Burton appeared to be well on top before the penalty incident and they doubled their lead after 38 minutes when centre-half Shane Cansdell-Sherriff stooped to head in a corner from Matty Palmer. Tranmere did not manage a shot on target in the game as the Brewers recorded a third consecutive clean sheet. Burton sit third in the League Two table on the same points as Shrewsbury and Wycombe, although they have played a game more. The only downside to the day for the hosts was that they lost in-form winger Alex MacDonald to a knee injury after he crashed into an advertising board early in the game. Cansdell-Sherriff then had to come off with a calf strain in first-half stoppage-time. Burton boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who has seen his side lose only one of seven games since he was appointed, was satisfied with an efficient performance, although he felt his team lost some sharpness when they were up against 10 men. "It was not easy," said Hasselbaink. "Tranmere don't deserve to be where they are. They keep the ball well and they gave us some problems. Tactically, they were spot on. "But, in the first 15 minutes, before the penalty, we looked sharp and we were on the front foot. I was very happy with that. "Playing against 10 men puts you in a promising position but also in a dangerous position because, if you drop your standards, if you already think that you have won, it can be very dangerous. "I think we coped with that really well, although, at stages, we could have done better with the ball and without it. "We were not as sharp pressing forward as we had been, although we addressed that in the second half and we were OK. "It was very good not to give a chance away and (defensively) that is the benchmark."