BRENTWOOD Town manager Steve Witherspoon has hit out a match officials who feels clearly robbed his side of a home win in their FA Trophy First Round tie against Lewes on Saturday.
Despite taking the lead three times in the 3-3 draw Witherspoon was left angry over crucial moments in the game where he says decisions when against his team.
"I never normally criticise referees and their assistants because they do have a difficult job but on Saturday I was left fuming over what were the blatant mistakes they made which did cost us victory," he declared.
"Early on when it was 0-0 they refused us such a clear cut penalty it was unbelievable," Witherspoon continued. "We go 1-0 up and then they equalised with again what was clearly an offside goal.
"We get in front twice more and with their last equaliser I couldn't believe it as Ryan Doyle was blatantly fouled in the build up and then their same player clearly handled the ball before putting it in the net," he continued. "I know you get the odd debatable decision going against you but these were so clear cut and straightforward."
Witherspoon went on: "I believe the referee was Italian and the assistant our side involved in the controversial moments was Bulgarian and there was a possibility of them perhaps not understanding each other in terms of the languages as they should in those crucial moments.
"Despite all this I'm proud of the way my team played their football and we were far the better side than our Premier Division visitors," he continued. "We passed the ball well and created chances and in reality we should have won and I was pleased with our overall performance but frustrated with the result."
Due to injuries and suspension Witherspoon was forced to play three teenagers - Sam Cross, Sam Bantick and Connor Witherspoon - all who have come through the Town's youth ranks.
"All three were fantastic and showed great maturity and proved what a successful youth set up with have at the club, " Witherspoon. "Disappointingly all three missed the replay because they are needed to play for their youth side against Gillingham in the FA Youth Cup tonight (Wednesday)."
For last night's replay at the infamous Dripping Pan ground Town did have experienced defender Darren Blewitt back although midfielder Steve Butterworth was still out suspended and Robbie Rees was unavailable.
"We're going there aiming to again play the way we do do with our football and give it a real go despite all the disappointment of not finishing the job on Saturday," he added.
The winners face a tough away tie in the next round to Kingstonian.
This Saturday, Town are away to AFC Sudbury in the league and that game is of a more concern for Witherspoon whose side sit in a lowly 17th position in the league.
"We're clearly in a false position and we are games behind everyone so we need to catch up and win our next two or three games to get us up well into the top half of the table where we should be," he explained.
He went on: "I do feel we've not quite got the balance of the side right - unlike last season we conceded the least goals of any team in the division but scored too few.
"Now we scoring goals but we seem to be giving too many away particularly in league games where we should have won and we didn't," he said. "We've overall played 18 games, won eight and only lost four so we're not doing too badly. There's still a long way to go this season but we need to get that balance in the side right," he said. "We will I'm sure and as I've said before we'll be up there amongst the leaders at the end of the season."
