Penalty call cost us dearly, says Sarll
BOURNEMOUTH loanee Jayden Stockley stepped off the bench to fire Exeter City to victory, but Stevenage caretaker manager Darren Sarll was left scratching his head at a pivotal penalty decision by referee Dean Whitestone.
After enjoying the better of the first-half chances, the hosts appeared to have been awarded a penalty within seconds of the restart when Tom Conlon was felled in the box.
But after consultation with his assistant, Whitestone reversed his decision and instead booked Conlon for simulation – with Stockley adding to their woes with a late winning double.
“I didn’t think anything of the decision at the time but I’ve seen it now and it’s a penalty,” said Sarll.
“These people that make the decisions, it’s a madness, the referee gives a penalty and looks at the linesman who also seems to give a penalty. It’s a massive decision in this game.
“It’s such a frustrating afternoon. They’ve put their heart and soul into it and there’s so much we are doing right and one thing we have done wrong is not scored.
“There is an identifiable problem and it’s goal-scoring. If we’d have taken our chances over the last few games we’d be sitting here with four out of five wins rather than two out of five.
“It’s mind-boggling to think how many games we’ve dominated. But there are three managers who’ve recently walked away with my points, it’s very frustrating.”
The lively Tom Pett had been at the centre of Stevenage’s best moves in the first half, shooting at keeper Bobby Olejnik before also setting up Ryan Hedges who saw his shot blocked.
Olejnik then turned Luke Wilkinson’s effort round the post before superbly tipping over Aaron O’Connor’s strike after the break. Attention then turned to Stockley who headed in Alex Nicholls’ floated cross before adding a second at the death on the counter attack, although Grecians boss Paul Tisdale was quick to praise his ‘keeper.
“Bobby had a performance as good as I’ve seen from him,” he said.
“He was very, very competent in all areas. The saves were one thing but it was a very solid performance overall from him.We had to come up with some real resolve and show team unity.
“It was a very testing first half but in the second half we had a bit of a breeze with us and that gave us an extra ten to 20 yards, so I went with a more attacking line up and it paid off with Jayden’s header.
“And right at the end, after making a hash of a couple of counter attacks, we finally got one right to finish off the contest.”