Reed laments penalty calls as Leighton exit FA Cup
Paul Reed felt poor refereeing decisions cost Leighton Town as they were knocked out of the FA Cup at Brentwood on Saturday.
Their opponents are flying high at the level above Leighton and won the game 2-1 to progress to the second qualifying round, that after Jack Sayell had put the Reds in front midway through the first-half.
But two penalties turned things around, the second of them coming with just four minutes left to ultimately put Leighton out.
And speaking after the game, Reed was unhappy with the decisions made by the match officials.
He told the club’s media: “I’m really proud of the lads and I don’t think they got the rewards for their efforts.
"We set up a certain way in terms of our out of position work and forced them to play down a certain side of the pitch, which we got down to a tee, so it’s a difficult one to swallow today.
"For 95 minutes they haven’t broken us down. They’re top of step three and have some really good players but I thought it was an equal game in terms of the quality, that’s been decided by two decisions that are very hard to accept.
"The first penalty is one where I’ve been told they got it wrong, and I can’t see how the second one is a penalty, personally, and when it went in the other linesman said the decision was wrong.
"Then we think we’ve gone 2-1 up with eight minutes to go but the linesman said Sydney Ibie was a yard offside.
"It’s frustrating because you want the boys to reap rewards for their football but this is what the game does sometimes.
"But we can’t let it take away from how we conducted ourselves and I was immensely proud of our club in general in terms of our fanbase and how we approached the game and I think we gave a really good account of ourselves.
“More players than not in our changing room have shown they could play at this level and above. We’ve got some top players here and I’m very lucky with the squad and coaching staff we have.”
Attention now turns to the FA Trophy for Leighton as they go to Brightlingsea Regent in the first qualifying round on Saturday. The match will be decided on the day.
Leighton then return to league action a week later at home to Hitchin Town.