“FRUSTRATED, not disappointed” was the verdict of Tiverton Town manager Leigh Robinson after his Yellows’ suffered a narrow, somewhat controversial, defeat by Gloucester City at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium on Saturday.
Tivvy had the better of a tight Pitching In Southern League Premier Division South encounter against last season’s National League North side in a match that was decided by a 64th-minute penalty from Joe Hanks.
The spot-kick was given for handball by Yellows’ player-assistant manager Ben Gerring during a goalmouth melee that followed a corner, awarded on the say-so of a linesman who was twice as far away from the incident as the referee.
However, Leigh felt that his side was on the wrong side of two decision that immediately preceded the penalty.
He said: “We are aggrieved about the corner. It couldn’t possibly have been a corner and everyone's running back to the halfway line, expecting their goal kick to be given.
“Also, the boys think that [goalkeeper] Zak [Baker] had the ball in two hands and was fouled before the handball. So there's two big decisions that went against us and that's decided the game."
The taste of defeat was all the more bitter as Tivvy continued their good form that had seen them win their previous three matches and took the game to their promotion-fancied opponents.
“I can't remember it a time that I've seen a team least deserve 1-0 win like that,” said Leigh. “I thought we gave everything today.
“It was obviously very, very close game. Let's be honest, neither ‘keeper had loads to do, but I don't remember [Gloucester] having a good chance other than other than the freebie they were given by the by the officials, which we feel really aggrieved about.
“So we we're highly frustrated, not disappointed, because I thought we put in a good performance and, on another day, could have had a point, could have had three points.
“Players should always decide the game and, today, the officials have decided the game and that that's disappointing.”
“Sometimes, in football, you don't get what you deserve on the day and today is one of those, but, if the players keep giving us that performance across the next 30-odd games, we'll end up in a good place.
“The team's in a different place now than what it was maybe a month ago. Confidence
is different; the shape is a lot better; we look a lot more cohesive than we did.
“We just would love to have seen some reward for it today, but wasn't to be.
“August was a tough month because we had people that weren't playing in top condition and weren't in form, that had patch pre-seasons and just weren't conditioned to start a season at this level.
"So that's where the slow start came from, but what you're seeing now is people are fully up to speed, the team is gelled a lot more than what it was in August and that's can only be a good thing, moving forward.”
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