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Birch, who had to name himself on the bench several years after his last competitive outing, saw his side more than match the visiting high-flyers and believe only bad decisions from the officials enabled Stockport to net twice in added time, the equaliser in an eighth added minute.

The Millers started well and took the lead 13 minutes in, Reece Lyndon collecting a headed clearance by Manu Omorogbe, and firing home from 25 yards, and just after the half hour mark George Howarth cut in from the right and fired in to double the lead.

But, as the game moved into injury time, Town were awarded a penalty for a handball andMcLaughlin converted from the spot with what was expected to be the last kick of the game.

Yet the referee allowed a further seven minutes which proved crucial as a long hopeful effort from the right evaded everyone and crept in at the far post.

“I am not going to bad-mouth referees as it has been well documented recently that they're struggling to get them at a lot of levels. They do a great job under masses of pressure,” said Birch.

“All I ask of referees is if you make a mistake then say so – we're all human.

“For me on Saturday I think the referee let us down massively.

“He played eight minutes injury time. I asked him where he got it from and he said my keeper was wasting time which wasn't true – I don't think he touched the ball for the first 80 minutes.

“I then asked him if at any point he had spoken to my keeper to hurry him on and he hadn't.

“He said he also added time as the ball had gone out the ground a couple of times but both times we had a ball back on the pitch within 10 seconds.

“I told him the time did not add up. He put six up initially and then played eight. He couldn't explain it I think his watch must have stopped or something.

“Also the penalty kick for handball he gave – the lad has smashed the ball at about 100mph and hit our lad about two yards away and he couldn't wait to give a penalty.”

However, Birch was delighted with his side's showing against the table-toppers.

“What I took out the game was massive as the lads were absolutely outstanding against an experienced side who were top of the league for a reason. We were the miles better team for 80 minutes and should have been three or four up,” he said.

“So it was frustrating to drop points and it felt like a bit of a loss in the end. The performance was outstanding and I was proud of them. I couldn't ask for anything more, even though we dropped points. We were let down by the official. That's football and we move on.”

Tuesday night's scheduled home clash with play-off rivals Brocton was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch so Mills will now prepare for a home Macron up tie on Saturday with AFC Bury.

Birch said: “You never want games to be called off but it was a bit of a blessing with our walking wounded and other lads ill too. But we'd have been 100 per cent happy to play and confident of getting the three points.

“We will play as strong a side as we can on Saturday. I have learned my lesson from the 6-1 Derbyshire Cup defeat by Belper, which I used to have a look at one or two lads that had been coming through in training but which backfired.

“The cup has come at a good time with so many injuries. I am all for winning cups, but the league is our focus and our bread and butter. We will still go as strong as we can.”