Pritchard admits penalty was harsh on former club
Harry Pritchard returned to haunt his former club on Saturday afternoon as his introduction as a second half substitute helped turn the tide against hosts Maidenhead United.
The former fans’ favourite at York Road was brought on alongside Idris Kanu in the 66th minute with his side trailing 2-0 to goals from Jayden Mitchell-Lawson and Reece Smith.
It looked a long road back for the Bees, but the pair ignited a revival which hadn’t looked on the cards until that point.
Suddenly the promotion chasers went up a gear and with five minutes they were level when Thompson flicked on a Dale Gordon corner for Callum Stead to tuck the ball home from inside the six-yard box.
The Magpies then saw off wave after wave of Barnet attacks and were on the verge of a win that would all but guarantee their National League survival when the referee Aaron Jackson controversially – and inexplicably in the eyes of Maidenhead fans – pointed to the penalty spot in the 91st minute.
Few of the 1,615 fans inside York Road could believe what they were seeing, but Nicke Kabamba made the most of the soft decision and scored from the penalty spot to make it 2-2.
Afterwards, Pritchard was honest enough to admit the penalty decision had seemed harsh on his former club.
“Yeah, it definitely wasn’t our strongest performance,” said Pritchard.
“Especially in the first half, but that just shows the character we have this year. We’re better than that.
“The fresh legs off the bench helped with myself and Idris coming on. We did what we had to, we brought that energy and we’re all fighting for those starting positions.
“I think it (the penalty) was a bit harsh on Maidenhead. I personally thought it hit the defender’s head, but unless the referee had a different angle and saw something else.
“We’ll take the point, especially after being 2-0 down. I know that, after playing here for many years, it’s a tough place to play. We’ll take the point and move on.”
If that was refreshing for Magpies’ fans to hear, their own feelings were more in tune with those of midfielder Casey Pettit, who said he was ‘gutted’ by the decision.
“We’re gutted, and that’s the feeling of everyone, because we 100per cent deserved that,” he said. “We can only control what happens on the pitch, and we felt that was worthy of the three points, but unfortunately, things out of our control took the three points away from us.
“If I speak the truth (about the penalty) I’ll get in trouble, but I can’t lie, it’s embarrassing. He’s given handball for something that’s hit his head.
“We know our record at home and the fans have given us a real boost, and we’re going to need them in the last two games here. We’re looking forward to it and hopefully we can bounce back on Tuesday. It’s not like we’ve played poorly today, we’ve deserved all three points.”