CHESHUNT manager Craig Edwards admits he has a bitter taste in his mouth after refereeing decisions cost his side four points in their bid for the Isthmian League Premier play-offs.
The Ambers, who cruised to a 1-0 win over Merstham on Tuesday night thanks to a second-half strike from Reece Beckles Richards, were held 1-1 with recent outings from Potters Bars Town and Cray Wanderers.
And in both matches, Cheshunt had one man, Amadou Kaasarate and Chevron McLean, sent off and had, according to Edwards, a number of decisions against them.
The Ambers now sit ninth in the table with 50 points from 30 league games while Enfield Town sit in fifth place having played 33 games and tallied 62 points.
(Photo: Scott Lear)
The veteran manager, who will see his side travel to Bowers & Pitsea in the fourth round of the Velocity Trophy on Thursday night before welcoming Wingate & Finchley to the league on Saturday, fears the move could cost his side a place in the game – the stops come at the end of the season.
“We still have an outside chance of the play-offs,” Edwards said.
“We were completely sewn up in the previous two games [to Tuesday].
“We’re one loss in eight games now, that was at Stockport, which wasn’t a shame, but the last two games before last night, we had been absolutely robbed and the Veo, the video, got it. proved, we had two good goals disallowed against Potters Bar.
“One was a minute before they scored and the other was two minutes from the end, they had a huge, huge influence on us not getting the three points.
“On Saturday we played against Cray and we scored an unbelievably good goal which was absolutely ridiculous, both games had soft, really soft send-offs.
“It’s hard but to feel anything other than very, very, bitter. We should have four more points in the bag which makes the whole picture so much rosier.
“All I pray is that if we don’t make the play-offs, it’s because we weren’t good enough, not because we were continuously sewn up by bad administration.
“It made a good change on
Tuesday night having a good referee, it’s not because we won, I feel more than fair if we lost, in fact, the one I voted the best referee in the league, we played three games with him, and lost everything, he’s a fantastic referee.
“All I pray when I walk into a game now is that the game isn’t decided by a contentious decision.”
During the performance against Merstham, Edwards was delighted to see his team come away with a clean sheet.
“After the last two draws it was a good win, it was good to have a clean sheet again,” he said.
“We have the best defensive record in the league.”
With such a packed schedule against the Ambers, Edwards says it’s better to be in this situation than not having any cup races.
“It’s hard that we got ourselves to this by the cup races we’ve had, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
“We have six weeks left in the season and potentially 20 games, which is absolutely crazy.
“If the option was not to race the trophy, not to race the cup, we wouldn’t be in this position.
“We want to play games and every game so far until the end of the season is a big game.”
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