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Gillingham captain Max Ehmer felt Rochdale were lucky to finish the game with their full complement.
Fellow centre-half Connor Ogilvie was on the receiving end of some rough treatment, with both Calvin Andrew and Aaron Wilbraham booked for fouls.
He said: “I thought two of them should have been red cards, the two on Connor, the elbow and the high foot.
“I couldn’t believe how the elbow wasn’t a red, it looked naughty for me from where I was, but that might have been the angle.
“But fair play to Connor, he got up and he kept going, he did well.”
Ehmer admitted they had to take the decisions on the chin, on a day where referee Alan Young took plenty of stick from the crowd.
“Referees get paid to make decisions and that’s the way it is,” said Ehmer.
Brandon Hanlan was booked for the Gills having protested at a decision to award Rochdale a free-kick.
Few in the crowd could understand why after the Rochdale defender had fallen on the ball, without contact, and handled it.
“I did have to calm Brandon down a bit,” said the Gills skipper, who ended up having a big decision go against him too.
Ehmer felt he should have had a penalty after being manhandled in the box when trying to get on the end of a corner.
It was one of three penalty appeals turned down, the other two coming for handballs as crosses from Luke O’Neill and Tom Eaves were both blocked.
“I couldn’t see the handballs from my angle,” added Ehmer. “But the one on me I thought was a definite penalty. I have gone to head the ball and he has pulled me.
“The referee didn’t think so and you can’t change it. You have to get on with it. I am guilty of sometimes saying too much to the referee. It is just upon ourselves to say what we want to say but not overstep the mark.”
Despite not getting any of the big decisions, the Gills at least took a point from the contest.
Ehmer said: “They are a physical team, with the big boys they have up front and at the back, but we were the better team and there was only one team that looked like they were going to win.
“The boys, myself included, are gutted we haven’t got the three points, but we have to take the positives, it’s another point on the board and another game unbeaten.
"We played some really nice football at times and we were just gutted we couldn’t get the three points that we deserved.”
Asked what he thought of Rochdale’s physical approach and time wasting tactics, he said: “Fair play to them, they have come and got the job done.
"We just didn’t have that final ball and couldn’t break them down.
“When you are down there, it is important to come away with a minimum of a point and that’s what they did. I don’t mind a battle, we knew what it would be like and we were ready for it.”
The point takes the Gills a little closer to safety.
“A couple more points and we’ll be fine,” added Ehmer.
“Fifty is our aim but once we get to that 50 we are not relaxing. We are still looking for more and with our run-in we fancy ourselves to win most games.
“We got 56 points last year and we’re eight off it. We can win easily three more games – we are targeting all six.”
