St Albans City missed out on a deserved point after their mammoth trek to Truro City because they didn’t get the rub of the green when it came to the big decisions.
That was manager Ian Allinson’s view as Louis Rooney’s goal in the second minute of added-on time at the end of the National South game at Treyew Road stole a 2-1 win for the hosts.
He was thinking of one decision in particular, a penalty given for handball and duly converted by Tyler Harvey, 10 minutes after Sam Merson had blasted Saints into the lead.
“I thought it was very harsh,” said the City boss. “I’ve spoke to the players and they said it hasn’t hit anybody’s hand. I feel that the referee has guessed at it.
“He said after the game that it has hit a hand and the hand was up but from where I was I didn’t think it was handball.
“There are a lot of bodies there and if it is a blatant handball he’s got to send the guy off.”
Video evidence appeared to back up the claim but it wasn’t the only decision that frustrated City who had spot-kick claims of their own shortly after for the same offence waved away.
“I appealed straight away and spoke to a few supporters after the game who said it was a handball but again, until I see the highlights, I don’t know.
“The big decisions haven’t gone our way and that’s disappointing because the minimum we deserved was a draw.”
He was also critical of the Treyew Road pitch, hosting only its second game of the season with Truro having playing the other games at Torquay.
But he also believed his players could have done more.
He said: “When we went 1-0 up their confidence had gone. They’ve been on a poor run and we could have gone on and won the game quite comfortably.
“They threw caution to the wind with three up front but that left them exposed at the back and we got in some really good situations but the final ball or cross wasn’t good enough.
“We weren’t selfish enough in front of goal.”
He finished though by praising both players and fans for making the trip to Cornwall.
He said: “It’s a long day, 15 hours of their life just to play football and a couple of the boys didn’t even get on.
“And you have to take your hat off to the supporters. We probably had 15 or 20 of them here and it’s a shame we didn’t get anything.”
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