Hull City boss Steve Bruce blasted the match officials after letting Peter Crouch's header in Stoke's 1-0 win to stand.
Crouch had only been on the field just over a minute when he headed home Charlie Adam's pin-point cross mid-way through the second half to register his fourth league goal in as many matches.
Replays suggested the striker may have been in an offside position at the far post as the cross was delivered, with Bruce at a loss to explain why the header wasn't disallowed.
"I don’t want to keep complaining about officials but there was some big decisions and I expect at this level that we get them right," Bruce told Sky Sports. "It’s not a difficult decision, but if he’s doing his job right he should be doing that.
Our defenders in there were adamant he was offside. There’s probably only him (Crouch) in the game that can score that goal, but if the defenders have done enough to catch him offside then you expect the decision to be given.
"It’s disappointing when you walk off and you’ve lost the game to a decision that should’ve been quite straight forward. You would think from a straight ball in to the penalty area that the linesman would get that decision right."
The Tigers headed to the Britannia Stadium searching for a third consecutive Premier League win for the first time since 2008, but failed to produce a single shot on target in a game lacking clear cut chances.
Defeat leaves Hull four points above the relegation zone with 11 games to go, with Bruce adamant his side could have extended their unbeaten run to boost their survival hopes.
"We didn’t do enough going forward and didn’t do enough when we’ve got the ball, but we showed a resilience and toughness today to get something out of it.
"Who knows, a point away from Stoke might have been what we needed and just kept the run going. Always to get something away from home in this league is terrific.
"It’s going to go, in my opinion, right to the wire. In the month of February we’ve picked up a few decent points and for me should’ve got a point today."