ALAN Knill could only wonder what might have been after some curious refereeing decisions forced Bury to return from the capital empty-handed.

Victory would have sent the Shakers level with league leaders Brentford - and they were adamant they had scored when Andy Morrell flicked Mike Jones' corner goalwards in the 31st minute.

However Phil Crossley and his assistant ruled that the ball did not cross the line.

Marcus Bean then struck in the 39th minute after the Shakers failed to clear their lines properly after a Brentford free-kick into the box.

Matters got worse for Bury when referee Crossley showed midfielder Stephen Dawson a second yellow card with 20 minutes left for kicking the ball away.

Knill seldom criticises the match officials but this defeat, against a Brentford side they more than matched, saw the Shakers slip out of the automatic promotion places.

The promotion clash drew the biggest crowd of the season of 6,597 to Griffin Park and the Bury boss felt that played its part.

"It was first against third, there's a big crowd and the home team usually gets the decisions," he said.

"I usually don't like to mention the officials but there was a foot up on Efe Sodje. The referee ends up giving them a foul instead and subsequently they score from it.

"Our players thought the ball had crossed the line earlier in the game."

BURY: Tyler 8, Scott 7, Sodje 6, Cresswell 6, Buchanan 7, Bennett 7, Dawson 8, Barry-Murphy 7, Jones 7 (Baker 75, 7), Bishop 7, Morrell 6. Subs: Haslam, Hurst, Racchi, Rouse.