Ian Holloway believes Millwall would have stood a greater chance of beating 11-man Doncaster than 10.

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The sides fought out a 0-0 draw on Monday with visiting defender Abdoulaye Meite being controversially dismissed in the first half.

Despite their numerical advantage, though, the Lions were unable to profit and Holloway thinks referee Fred Graham’s decision was incorrect and also killed the game.

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“I was pleased with our performance but funnily enough the referee changed the course of the game,” he said.

“I don’t think it was a sending off at all - at worst it was a yellow card.

“The expectation from everybody is then that you are up against 10 men.

“That made it easier for Doncaster to just sit in and then they had an excuse to do that.

“I thought it would be only a matter of time before we scored. I still can’t believe that we haven’t but that’s life.

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“We keep going, and that’s another step closer to getting us doing what I would want them to do.

“I thought we looked a half-decent side out there to be honest.

“It isn’t a day to be disappointed.

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“I’ll only be frustrated if we end up one or two points short but I don’t think we will.”

Although their performance only yielded one point, Holloway felt his side, who twice went close through Steve Morison, were more than worthy of all three.

He said: “We were the better team and the statistics will prove that.

“Well done to Doncaster to show that sort of spirit, I think they got that from the referee.

“I think they felt aggrieved and they held themselves in.

“Even now I can see that save from Morison.

“Where did that hand come from?

“I thought it was in. I was up celebrating.

“Morison’s header, on another day, will hit the bottom of the bar and go in and it would have been a totally different atmosphere.

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“I don’t think our fans, who were absolutely brilliant, can fault our team for their effort.

“I wish it was the start of the season; six results, three wins and three draws.

“That would be promotion-winning form but unfortunately we were on the end of an absolute mauling for three quarters of the season.

“Hopefully with two games to go we’ve given ourselves a decent chance.”