Cotterill questions handball

Bristol City boss Steve Cotterill disputed the free-kick that brought Rotherham's winning goal in the 2-1 defeat at the New York Stadium.

Two-goals from full-back James Tavernier gave the Millers victory. They could not have had a better start with a goal after just 70 seconds. Ben Pringle's free-kick was headed clear by Jay Emmanuel-Thomas but the ball was collected outside the area by Tavernier who side-stepped his marker and found the back of the net with a 25 yard drive. But three minutes into the second half City were level. Wade Elliott collected what seemed like a harmless ball wide on the right and with Rotherham backing off, he cut inside and hit a fierce shot from just outside the area which beat Collin all ends up. But Tavernier restored Rotherham's lead on the hour mark. Goalkeeper Frank Fielding was penalised for carrying the ball outside his area and Tavernier whipped home the free-kick. Cotterill said: "I've watched it and he released the ball inside his box out of his hands. Just because he kicks it outside there's no problem with that. What else can I say. "In all my time in football that's never happened to me , never happened in a game I've played in, never happened in a game I've managed. "When you're away from home those sort of things go against you, it's disappointing that one has. It was our best spell and we should have gone on and won the game. "We were better than them and we should have won the game. We've given away two soft goals. "I wasn't happy with what happened at the start but then we got a grip on it and we were the better team .We managed to gain our composure. We passed the ball better than they did but we just haven't stayed switched on at a couple of important times."