Reading boss Noel Hunt has hit out at officiating following Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Shrewsbury Town in which he felt his side were denied a penalty.

The Royals boss has hit out at referees often since taking over in November, feeling hard done by when it comes to decisions.

Last week, the club had their first penalty on home soil in over two years to beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0, but this time around it was the Shrews who won a spot-kick for Chem Campbell's drag back.

Saved by Joel Pereira and poised at 1-1 heading into the final 10 minutes, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan fell in the box after goalkeeper Jamal Blackman rushed off his line.

(Image: ©Jason Dawson)

Hunt, and many in attendance, felt it was a foul but referee Abigail Byrne felt otherwise.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Salop boss Gareth Ainsworth believed Ehibhatiomhan initiated the contact and the call was the right one.

"They’re giving penalties for the one they gave and we don’t get it when we knock it pas the keeper and he comes nowhere near the football and collides with Kelv," Hunt told the Reading Chronicle on Tuesday.

"I’m sick of this minimum contact rubbish. If he’s misjudged the tackle and late by a millisecond, he’s late. It doesn’t matter. I’d like to see it cleaned up a little bit because there is minimum contact, he throws himself to the floor and they’re awarded a pen. If that’s the way the pens are going, we are going to have six a game. Then we have one in the second half and don’t get it. We had one with Mbengue where the lad isn’t even looking at the ball but takes him down as it’ in the air and nothing is given.

"I’d like for a bit of consistency. We’re told about minimal contact and then we get a penalty against, and we had maximum contact with one and it’s waved away. It is what it is. We can talk about the officials all night; I’m not wasting my time anymore. I just keep telling the boys to keep getting in there and asking the question because they can’t keep denying us."

On Saturday, Rotherham United visit the SCL Stadium for the second of a run of three successive home matches in League One.