PHIL Parkinson fears City might be too honest for their own good.

The Bantams suffered only their third defeat in 21 games after going down 2-1 at Swindon last night.

They recovered from an awful first half to hit back through Billy Clarke and almost rescued a point.

But Parkinson was furious with referee Carl Berry over a couple of penalty calls, especially late on when he refused to give a hand ball against Swindon’s Ben Gladwin.

Parkinson fumed: “I’ve had enough of them. You hear about managers moaning about referees at the level above but there were two penalties, possibly three if Andy Halliday had gone down when he went through.

“The third one was the one. Everyone jumped up because it was a pen. The linesman told me the lad’s hands were in an unnatural position, he did handball it but he didn’t have time to get them out the way.

“If your hands are in an unnatural position and you’re stopping a cross in the box then it’s a penalty.

“Officials have got to be brave, especially when they are in front of the home fans. You’ve got to give those big decisions.”

The City boss also accused Swindon of play-acting – and felt his own side were getting short-changed with decisions because they did not make a meal of them.

Parkinson added: “Look at Swindon and every time someone got touched they were rolling on the floor.

“Is it professionalism? Let’s call it that. But we breed honesty in the lads and I think it’s costing us.

“They got (James) Meredith booked in the first half while our players are getting tackled and jumping up.

“Billy Clarke has been elbowed in the middle of the pitch off the ball and nothing happened. Maybe we’re just a bit honest.

“You don’t want to condone people rolling around and we’ve got a reputation for trying to do things right. But when you see the way Swindon do it, it’s hard to take.

“They’ve got good players and are a really athletic team. They’ve got a lot of talent we know that.

“They’ve got a midfield player (Massimo Luongo) they turned down £2m for in the January transfer window. But some of the antics out on the pitch were disappointing to see.”

Aussie international Luongo scored both Swindon goals as the home side dominated before the break. But Parkinson was encouraged by City’s response.

He said: “We were second best in the first half and got caught on the back foot.

“But we came back in terrific fashion and I thought we did enough to get something.”

On-loan Nottingham Forest winger Oliver Burke made his first start in senior football and the 17-year-old showed glimpses of his electric speed in a 75-minute outing.

Parkinson said: “I just felt we needed his pace and I thought he got better as the game went on.

“It’s difficult but if you don’t play him, the lad’s not going to improve. The difference from where he’s been playing to this is great.

“He came on as a sub for Forest but that’s when the game slowed down. He had to be on it from the start and I thought he was terrific second half.”