‘Massive decisions’ cost Boro dearly
Pennery’s Gosport return ruined by late offside call
Gosport Borough manager Shaun Gale spoke of his 'frustration' at the three 'massive' decisions he felt went against his side in their surprise 2-1 defeat at Southern League Premier South bottom-side Wimborne Town.
Boro also had captain Ryan Woodford sent off in the second half to compound a forgettable afternoon.
Gale highlighted three major refereeing calls he felt the officials got wrong.
He was aggrieved Wimborne were not reduced to 10 men when Theo Lewis was denied going clean through on goal after a home player handled just outside the area in the first half.
Gale felt his side should have been awarded a free-kick in the build-up to Wimborne's second goal, while he also felt debutant Ryan Pennery's strike late on was incorrectly called offside.
‘I don’t like to ever blame officials but, ultimately, three massive decisions cost us the game,’ he complained. ‘I’ll let anyone watch the game, it’s not an excuse, it’s fact.
‘Their lad has handballed right on the edge of the area to stop Theo Lewis going clean through and the referee game him a yellow card - he was the last man and Theo Lewis is in on goal - I don’t want to see players sent-off but, ultimately, that is a red card. That’s a big decision.
‘We come out for the second half, Ryan Woodford is running back to his own goal, the lad clips his heels, he goes over, the referee plays on - the referee was close as well - the lad goes on, squares it and they score.
‘Ryan then says something he knows he shouldn’t to a referee but he’s frustrated, as is everyone, because it’s a free-kick every other day of the week.
‘We’re then 2-0 down, down to 10 men and we’ve got a fight on our hands.
‘The frustrating thing for me is we’re creating so many chances but we’re not taking them.
‘We got an equaliser from Luke Hallett pulling the ball back to Ryan Pennery, he’s pulled the ball back so you can’t be offside.
‘It’s frustrating in a game we dominated. Wimborne huffed and puffed, but it’s taking nothing away from them because they won.’
Recalled centre back Matt Casey unfortunately trod on the ball with the hosts
breaking and taking the lead through Harry Morgan on 27 minutes.
Gale and Gosport were then aggrieved when a Wimborne player was only shown a yellow card after handling and denying Lewis a goalscoring opportunity.
Things got worse for Boro when Curtis Young doubled the strugglers' advantage seven minutes after the restart with Woodford shown a straight red card in the aftermath.
It was the defender’s second red card of the season after his dismissal in the FA Trophy loss to Salisbury. Despite their numerical disadvantage, Hallett prodded home at the back post to give Gosport a glimmer.
Pennery, making his second debut for the club after returning on Friday from AFC Totton, thought he'd grabbed a leveller five minutes from time, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
Wimborne, therefore held on for just a second league win this term and their first at their New Cuthbury HQ.
Gosport remain in the playoff places despite now having won just once in their last seven league matches.