Lee Bell was furious with the officials despite Crewe salvaging a 1-1 home draw with Barnet thanks to a late own goal by former player Zac Williams.

One-time academy youngster Williams left the Railwaymen for Barnet in the summer after a loan spell in Scottish football and he endured a bitter return when he hooked an 85th-minute free-kick past his own goalkeeper.

However, his former boss was convinced Crewe should have had the chance to level earlier during their improved second-half show when Bees’ skipper Danny Collinge appeared to trip Josh March as the striker took aim inside the box. Referee Harrison Blair waved away appeals.

“It went our way in the end and the equaliser was just for the players,” said Bell. “But it was a bad game of football and the officials should have done better.

“I don’t like to see players sent off but how they ended up with 11 men on the pitch…

“Home fans will go against the ref but he was so far off that it can’t be the norm. Josh was nulled and voided in the game – he was about to shoot and the lad steps across him.

“We wanted a response after the last two games and we got one in the second half. Our focus was better and we wore them down. We hit the bar and we had that stonewall penalty turned down.

“I gave Charlie McNeill his opportunity as he has been chomping at the bit and it was also the right time to bring Ian Lawlor back in goal.”

Barnet had returned to winning ways with a midweek win over York and were denied making it six wins from eight games by Williams’ unfortunate intervention.

Earlier the visitors imposed themselves on the game by strength and organisation rather than flair against the Railwaymen.

The home side made changes after successive away defeats, including a 5-1 hammering at Chesterfield, and were without midfielder Owen Lunt after he was hospitalised overnight.

Experienced keeper Lawlor, preferred between the sticks in the place of Tom Booth, had no chance with Barnet’s 34th-minute opener, a thumping 20-yard strike from Tom Knowles which flew into the top corner.

However, Barnet did not create another clear opening until Kabongo Tshimanga’s late angled effort was dealt with by Lawlor.

By then Crewe were back level in the game and had almost won it when March hit the bar with a close-range header.

Barnet boss Dean Brennan admitted: “It’s another game we’ve lost points in the closing stages – we’ve dropped six from really good positions.

“Our junior players need to take the responsibility better. Zac was awful for their goal, as an example.

“Crewe are a technical side but they were extremely direct in the first half. We scored a fantastic goal but our quality wasn’t good enough overall.

“Our budget is one of the lowest in the league but our expectations are high and our fans will be disappointed that we let it slip late in the game.

“But we’ll respect the point we’ve got as we could have lost all three at the end when they hit the bar.”