Derby County manager Steve McClaren was furious after seeing Jake Buxton sent off in his side's Capital One Cup quarter-final loss to Chelsea on Tuesday.
The 29-year old defender was shown a straight red card for pulling back Loic Remy when the score was 2-1 with just over 10 minutes remaining at iPro Stadium.
Craig Bryson had pulled Derby back into the contest with a fine curling effort in the 71st minute after Eden Hazard and Filipe Luis had given the Blues the ascendency but Buxton's questionable send-off ruined the game with Andre Schurrle grabbing s third for the Premier League side in the 82nd minute.
After the match, McClaren voiced his opinion on the Buxton decision and felt that it thwarted a potential comeback by the Rams who gave their all against the top flight leaders.
"They grew into the game, got better, and once we got the goal we were in the ascendency and the momentum was with us, and we've been robbed, really, by a ridiculous decision," he told Sky Sports.
"I've watched it over and over and the foul is actually by Remy on Buxton because Buxton was ahead of him and you just see he pulls his left arm out of the way which gets him in front. Then [Lee] Grant is coming out and Remy isn't appealing for the foul but for handball outside the box which we thought was the decision.
"It's unbelievable to see that Buxton was sent off. We've talked nice and calmly about it with the officials and I just said 'from that distance and angle you can't see what Remy did, we understand that, but the decision is wrong'.
"It's cost us the game, it's huge. You can't win with 10 men - it's difficult enough with 11, but I'm so proud of the players. They were fantastic tonight."
