Mick Mulhern was left angered by decisions that went against Middlesbrough Women on Sunday as they were forced to settle for a draw away at league leaders Cheadle Town.

Fresh from an important win over fellow promotion rivals Leeds United Ladies in last weekend’s return to action after the winter break, Boro were held to a goalless draw by Cheadle, in a game they had to play out with just ten players after Armani Maxwell picked up two yellow cards.

But the controversy came earlier as Boro had two goals disallowed in a game of few chances in difficult windy conditions. The first saw a goal ruled out as the referee deemed the ball to have gone out of play. The second was presumed to be for a ‘foul’ on the keeper as Maxwell scored direct from a corner - with Boro boss Mulhern refuting both decisions.

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“From a performance point of view, I’m pleased,” Mulhern said after. “We were tested today, as much by some of the decisions that were made on the pitch, if I’m honest. We showed great discipline to not rise to that.

“There weren't that many chances in the game but the ones that there were, we created them. The most important thing is, if you can’t win the game, don’t lose it. We never looked like losing it, and had two goals chalked off. That’s massively disappointing.

“The first one, the ball doesn’t go out of play, we score. The second, the corner, there is no impediment on the keeper, no one stopping her getting the ball as it goes in at the back post. We score, the referee gives it, is shouted at by a few of their players then changes her mind.

“She’s given three different accounts of why she disallowed it - to me, to their manager and to our skipper and goalkeeper. It’s inconsistent. Really disappointing.

“We’ve then had to dig in and show a different side to ourselves having gone down to ten. We reorganised and, to be fair, I still thought we were the team looking most likely to get the result. I can’t complain with the girls’ efforts, it’s just unfortunate we couldn’t win it.”

The result meant there was little change at the top of the WPL Division One North table. Cheadle remain top, four points ahead of fourth-placed Boro. But with games in hand on all three sides above them in the table, Boro’s promotion fate (with only one team going up each year) still lies in their own hands.

Mulhern said: “We look at it now and say, we’ve played Cheadle twice and took four points. That’s a positive. When you’re up against those around you, you’ve got to make sure you take the lion's share of the points. Ultimately, what cost us last year was too many draws, but this is one I guess you would call a good draw.

“It’s not what we really wanted, but a draw away at the team currently sitting top and with the best defence in the league is a positive. I just feel we deserved to win.

“We’re still in control of our own destiny though. We’re not being arrogant by saying we want to win the league, we do. But so do they, and so they should be saying that as well. We’re in a good position, there’s plenty of games left, and we just have to make sure we take care of our own business.”