Hill happy as men climb back from ‘dodgy’ decision
EASTLEIGH boss Richard Hill claimed the burning sense of injustice his side felt after George Langston’s first-half red card inspired them to fight back from a goal down at Newport.
Centre-back Langston was sent off for an elbow on County midfielder Harry Charsley seven minutes before the break, leaving the National League side with an uphill task.
And League Two Newport looked to be on their way to the fourth round once defender James Clarke turned in Shane Mcloughlin’s corner in the 56th minute.
But Clarke brought down 25-goal Spitfires striker Paul Mccallum in the box and Chris Maguire, who had earlier hit the post, levelled with a confident penalty into the top corner with just eight minutes remaining.
“We had to give it a go,” said Hill, whose side dumped out League One Reading in the second round. “There was no point just keeping the score down in the last 20 minutes.
“We made positive substitutions and we’ve got players who are pretty special in certain areas of the pitch – and anything can happen.”
Hill was unhappy with the decision to show Langston a straight red and felt the home crowd influenced the officials.
“I’ve got to be careful – the FA police will be watching – it was a foul to us,” he added.
“Will Evans was fouling our boys throughout the game. But sometimes the officials aren’t good enough to see that because they haven’t played the game.
“The crowd affected the linesman for the whole game as well.
“We felt a little bit aggrieved and it motivated us. And when it went 1-1 I was telling the lads to go and win it.
“We’ve only done half a job and we have to be mindful of that. We can’t think it’s a foregone conclusion but we’ve got another chance.”
Exiles boss Graham Coughlan was also angry at referee Ed Duckworth for the late penalty call.
“It was a shocker of a decision,” said Coughlan.
“I have mixed emotions. We played really well. Before the sending off we were good and created chances we just didn’t finish.
“Unfortunately, we are coming away from a game yet again talking about a ridiculous decision.
“The game was always likely to swing on a naive refereeing decision.”
NEWPORT: Townsend 6; Baker 6, J Clarke 6 (Rai (87) 5), Delaney 6; Payne 7 (Bondswell (66) 6), Bennett 6, Morris 6, Charsley 6 (Waite (66) 6), Mcloughlin 7; Evans 5, Palmer-houlden 5 (Wildig (87) 5) EASTLEIGH: Mcdonnell 6; Boldewijn 6, Langston 3, Hodson 5 (Francillette (46) 5), Croll 6, Clements 5 (Clampin (76) 6); Maguire 7, Atangana 5 (Nwabuokei (76) 5), Taylor 6 (Harris (75) 5); Mccullum 6, Quigley 6 STAR MAN: Chris Maguire – Hit the post before converting in style from the spot. REF: Ed Duckworth 7