CHICKERELL UNITED 1 SOUTH CHERITON UNITED 2

CHICKERELL United were left stunned at the Stalls by nine-man South Cheriton United as the visitors came from behind to secure a 2-1 win.

In a contest that was heaped with drama from start to finish, Chickens’ boss Steve Coward even almost saw Warren White’s opener chalked off after half an hour.

He told Echosport: “Their linesman disallowed it for offside initially but it hadn’t touched anyone, it actually came off one of their defenders, and Warren finished it.

“The referee overruled it in the end.”

That put the home side in front during a half where South Cheriton also had a man dismissed for raising his hand to one of the Chickens’ players.

Coward added: “Going in at 1-0 up, attacking down the slope in the second half, you would have thought we would have got something out of it.

“We were on top for the 45 minutes and there was only one side in it.

“You have to take your hat off to South Cheriton though, they shut everything down with 10 men, kept their shape and managed to get their goals out of it.”

Tim Trevett and Chris Hibberd bagged the goals for the visit- ors, with the leveller controversially coming from the penalty spot.

Coward claimed: “I have never seen a penalty like it, but it’s neither here nor there.

“The referee has made the decision and you have to stick by it.

“They have had two shots, one was a penalty and one was their second goal “We didn’t create enough chances against 10 men, we needed to keep the ball better than we did.

But despite back-to-back league defeats hindering second-placed Chickerell’s title hopes, Coward insists the race for the crown is still wide open.

“I think there are still four teams in it, Holt, South Cheriton, Balti and us.

“It is going to go right up to the end but if we play like we have been over the last couple of weeks we can kiss goodbye to it.”

Chickens: Boore, Ykhlef, Miles (Charles 75), S Welch, Newnham, Churchill, Jarvis, Etherington, Coles (L Taylor 65), White, Why