Albion manager Mark McGhee today blamed "poor" and "inconsistent" refereeing for a second successive away defeat.

McGhee disagreed with both first-half penalty decisions in Saturday's 2-0 setback at play-off chasers Stoke.

Referee Colin Webster penalised Mark McCammon for a foul on Michael Duberry and Dan Harding for holding from a corner as Gifton Noel-Williams struck twice from the spot for the Potters in quick succession.

McGhee said: "I thought they were two really soft penalties. It was a poor refereeing display.

"It was always going to be a difficult game and Stoke deserved to win but probably not in the circumstances they did.

"I saw the first one quite clearly. Mark McCammon touched the lad in the back, he went over very easily and the linesman was desperately quick to give it.

"The second one we felt was a handball on their part but in actual fact the referee said he gave it for Dan Harding holding the boy before the boy handled it.

"There was holding going on in both boxes throughout the game and it showed a total lack of consistency. There could easily have been penalties at the other end.

"There was one corner kick when I deliberately kept my eye on Guy Butters and he was held."

Albion are down a place to 16th, seven points clear of the relegation zone, ahead of Saturday's trip to fellow strugglers Plymouth when Adam Virgo is available after a two-match ban.

Four of the bottom five won on Saturday and McGhee said: "We've had a warning again that there is still a lot of work to do. Other results went exactly the way I thought they would.

"I thought Forest would win and that Gillingham would win, so I suspected things would look a little closer."

Goalkeeper David Yelldell, whose month on loan expired with the Stoke defeat, has returned to Blackburn.