Cheltenham boss Michael Flynn accused opposite number Danny Cowley of a lack of respect after his side were beaten 1-0 by Colchester.
Harry Anderson’s 69th-minute goal was enough to secure the points for Cowley’s side, who are now unbeaten in 11 games and only four points off the top seven.
There were heated scenes after the whistle, with Robins boss Flynn angered by the visitors’ celebrations, while his first-team coach Ashley Vincent and defender Sam Stubbs had to be restrained as the teams left the field.
Flynn was left frustrated by the officials’ performance, feeling his side should have had two penalties and he also expressed his disappointment at Cowley’s conduct after the final whistle.
“We’ve been massively let down by officials and I am not going to say too much because I don’t want a fine, or a ban,” Flynn said.
“I will always try and concentrate on what we could have done better first and their goal came after we allowed a cross in too easily and we switched off.
“But I think Colchester fell short with their respect and that was the only disappointing thing.
“They have won the game, got three points and they are on a very good run, but it’s not like they’ve just won the league, so I don’t understand it.
“There is no animosity between me and their manager, between our club and their club and I’d get it if it was Wigan v Bolton, Bristol Rovers v Bristol City or Celtic v Rangers, Man United v Liverpool and all those rivalries, but it’s about 225 miles away.
“I will have a chat with Danny and I’ll be honest with him. I will say it was very unlike him with our relationship and tell him I am a bit disappointed, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Ethan Williams hit the woodwork with a free-kick for Cheltenham after 15 minutes and the home side had penalty appeals waved away after Darragh Power went down in the box in the 41st minute.
Jordan Thomas could not finish after a cross from Val Adedokun fell to him in the box, but Colchester were close to opening the scoring in first-half stoppage time when Joe Day blocked well from Ellis Iandolo.
Day denied John-Kymani Gordon with his feet 10 minutes into the second half, but was helpless to stop Anderson giving Colchester the lead after Iandolo’s ball in from the left.
A low shot from Ethon Archer was comfortably saved by Matt Macey in the 77th minute as Cheltenham suffered only a second home defeat in 17 games in all competitions.
“When we weren’t winning, we were everyone’s friends,” Cowley said. “Now we’ve started winning, maybe that’s not the case anymore.
“Maybe we are toughening up, improving and we are playing with a real competitive spirit.
“We stood up to a big, powerful, aggressive team and found the answer. Sometimes when you do that, teams don’t like it.
“I have so much respect for Michael, he is a really good coach and his teams are always in the fight and really competitive so we will go up and I am sure we’ll have a beer afterwards.”
