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Steelmen stunner

Simon Smedley
20/12/2006

A HUGELY controversial penalty decision proved to be the turning point on Saturday at Lambeth Grove as Woodley Sports went down 3-1 in their FA Trophy first round proper clash against Witton Albion.

With Woodley a goal up with just 10 minutes to go thanks to Nick Boothby's 55th minute strike, Witton were awarded a spot-kick for an alleged foul by home goalkeeper Liam Heginbotham, a decision for which the referee later apologised.

The penalty was rammed home, and with their tails up, Witton went on to sink Woodley with two more goals in the dying moments as they picked up the £4,000 in prize money.

Sports boss Ally Pickering was gutted. He said: "That penalty decision turned the game, and the referee later apologised to Liam and myself. He admitted he had made an error.

"But the game should have been over well before then. We should have been three or four up by half-time, we simply didn't put our chances away.

"It was unbelievable really. We had three one-on-ones in the first half, and Daniel Douglas-Pringle should have had a hat-trick. It's over now though, it's no good moping around. We've got two big league games coming up over Christmas.

"We need to win those two if we're to stay involved at the top of the table."

Woodley travel to high-flying Colwyn Bay on Saturday, then on Boxing Day they host UniBond division one leaders Buxton. The well-supported visitors have already sold in excess of 200 tickets for that game.

Striker Mario Sergio-Daniel is still suspended for the Colwyn Bay and Buxton games following his recent straight red card.

CHEADLE Town's dismal form continued on Saturday as they went down 2-1 at home to Leek CSOB. Scott Flanagan scored on 60 minutes. Cheadle host Bootle on Saturday [3pm].