“We were let down by the officials”

The Pirates were left to rue two big decisions going against them as their four-match winning run in Sussex County Football League Division Two came to a controversial end with a 1-0 loss away to Eastbourne United AFC on Tuesday night.

McCreadie said: “I keep talking about them, but the referee and the assistant failed in their duties to do their job properly. My players were the better side, but they were let down by the officials.”

The first contentious incident came midway through the second half when Eastbourne goalkeeper Grant Young appeared to handle outside his penalty area under pressure from Jacob Shelton. Bexhill felt that a free kick should have been awarded a red card shown to Young, but the referee decided to wave play on.

The other talking point came right at the end. Jamie Salvidge ran from deep to latch onto a throughball and slot into the net, but the goal was disallowed by a very late offside flag against Peter Cooper, who Bexhill claimed was inactive and made no attempt to play the ball.

“It was a perfectly good goal,” said McCreadie. “And the ‘keeper admitted it (the handball) afterwards. We outplayed them in every department and everybody in that ground knows who the better team was.”

See tomorrow’s Bexhill Observer for the full article.