Disallowed goal leaves sour taste for Magpies

SSML Premier Division

Kentish Town 3 Colney Heath 1

COLNEY Heath were left to rue a contentious refereeing decision as they slipped to a 3-1 defeat against Kentish Town on Wednesday evening.

Defender Steve Barker had already scored one goal when he was controversially denied a second when the referee adjudged that the ball hadn’t crossed the line.

It came at a crucial point of the game for the Magpies who’d seen Barker’s 19th minute opener wiped out by goals from Lee Scott and Michael Patrick.

After that setback the Magpies’ players’ heads dropped and Alan Murray struck with 15 minutes to go to put the game, which had been switched to Heath’s Recreation Ground because Kentish Town’s pitch wasn’t playable, out of Heath’s reach.

“The referee’s tried to stamp his authority on the game and has shown six yellow cards despite there not being one bad tackle,” complained Heath boss Scott Lacey.

“Steve Barker has headed home a second goal and it’s been cleared from behind the line and everyone in the ground has seen it except the referee – one of their players had his head in his hands. We even had their players saying to us that we’d been robbed.”

Despite the issues with the referee’s performance Lacey admitted his side aren’t learning from their mistakes.

“We let in a sloppy goal (for the equaliser), it was bad marking and to be honest it’s becoming a common goal that we are conceding.

“We seem to be conceding the same sort of goals and we need to learn from our mistakes.”

Despite the side’s indifferent league form the Magpies have been enjoying good results in the Premier Division Cup and the Challenge Trophy.

“We’ve still got a lot to play for,” said Lacey.

“Our form in the cups is good, we’re still in the Premier Division Cup and the Challenge Trophy, and we’ve got a good chance to make a final.”

The Magpies hope to welcome Jack Coombs back from injury for Saturday’s home game with St Margaretsbury but the prognosis is not so good for Ian and Kevin Cooper with the brothers likely to be out for at least another month.

“I felt we deserved a point if not all three last night (Wednesday),” said Lacey.

“But we’ll just have to keep doing the right things and bounce back against St Margaretsbury on Saturday.

“They are the ones who inflicted our demise and we aim to deliver full retribution.”