BOSS HINSH BAFFLED AS LUKE LANDS KEY BLOW

TWO sides separated by nothing heading into the match were split by a busy refereeing performance as Eastleigh nicked a late three points against nine-men York City.

Both York and Eastleigh were level on points and goal difference heading into the match, with both teams nervously looking over their shoulders at the National League relegation zone.

But a red card to both Zanda Siziba and Ryan Fallowfield saw York reduced to nine-men, before Luke Croll’s 84th minute was judged to be legal by referee Dean Watson, despite the protests of the City players and management team.

York boss

Adam Hinshelwood was frustrated by the refereeing performance, saying: “I’m just baffled by some of his decisions really. Ultimately, we’ll look at what we can control and what we can control is better.

“There were five-and-ahalf thousand that turned out to watch us today and we didn’t give their goalkeeper enough to do.

“I feel that we’ve been let down a little bit, but ultimately we were nowhere near good enough today.

“I’ve enjoyed watching us play in recent weeks, but I certainly didn’t enjoy watching us for large parts.

“It’s definitely a foul, I don’t think that the ref is in a good position to see, he’s blindsided and needs help from the linesman. Everyone needed to see that it was a foul, but I thought that we were poor today, really poor.”

York got off to a good start with Billy Chadwick and

Maz Kouhyar both stinging the gloves of Joe McDonnell, before midfielder Marvin Armstrong rattled the crossbar with a cross-shot.

Eastleigh had an opportunity through top scorer Paul McCallum, but his volley was well-held by George Sykes-Kenworthy.

Scott Quigley was denied two one-on-one opportunities early in the second-half through some retreating defenders, before Eastleigh struck the bar themselves through George Langston.

But with very little separating the two sides, the match exploded into action as Siziba was shown a straight red card for a studded challenge on Ludwig Francillette, having only entered the field minutes earlier.

Fallowfield was shown a yellow card for his protests, and then a red when clumsily hacking down Francilette just minutes later, putting the Minstermen down to nine-men.

Eastleigh prevailed from their two-man advantage, winning a corner which would be delivered towards Sykes-Kenworthy in goal, but despite appearing to have both hands on the ball, a poke from Croll saw the ball bundled over the line.

Arguments were ignored by the referee, with Callum Howe’s late effort being cleared off of the line, as York slipped to within three points of the relegation zone and Eastleigh looking likely to remain in the National League for next season. STAR MAN: Luke Croll (Eastleigh) ATT: 5,508 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Dean Watson