OXFORD United reckon they were mugged on Saturday as a combination of beefy Steve Bull and two hotly-disputed goals brought Wolves their first ever win at the Manor.

Bull's clattering challenge on goalkeeper Phil Whitehead was allowed to stand as the veteran centre forward fired Wolves in front right on half-time.

And a late second goal, following a penalty, increased United's misery in a match which saw several players momentarily lose their heads.

Nine players were booked in the second half, including six from Oxford, as the U's went down 2-0.

Whitehead was furious with York ref Matt Messias for not penalising Bull's challenge.

"From my eyes, Keith Curle ballooned one into the box, I came to clear it and Steve Bull just jumped straight at me, I spilled the ball and he just put it in. "He's even admitted that he wasn't looking at the ball when he jumped, so that's down to the referee - but I don't want to say anything about him because that might incriminate me.

"Our discipline did go, but it's frustrating when things don't go your way, especially if you feel you've been - and I've got to choose my words carefully here - 'hard done by'.

"But take away two questionable decisions by the referee and you've got a 0-0 draw."

Whitehead brilliantly saved Curle's penalty, only to see a follow-up shot from Simon Osborn beat him when his teammates were slow to react.

United manager Malcolm Shotton said: "We started off not bad but just lacked the killer ball, and somebody to stick the ball in the net.

"We did lose our discipline," he agreed, "but the referee might have something to do with that. It's not that we made it physical. We competed. But you can't have so many getting booked and doing what they were doing and I've said that to them after the game."

His assistant Mark Harrison confirmed the players' belief that, whether by Bull or by harsh refereeing decisions, they had been mugged.

"I think if I say what I wanted to say I'd be up before the FA on a disrepute charge. We felt it was a free-kick but at the end of the day those things happen in games and we've got to be bigger than that," said Harrison.

"If you look at our performance we didn't do enough.

"It was a great penalty stop by Phil and we reacted slowly to it. Wolves reacted sharper to the ball and for us, that was another poor goal.

"We're not happy about having six booked in the second half."

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