Cinderford Town 2 Winchester City 2

Southern League Division One South & West

CINDERFORD Town claimed a Southern League play-off place for the first time in the club’s history in a game littered with controversy.

An inconsistent display from referee Chris Husband saw nine yellow cards issued and two reds. Husband managed the game well for 25 minutes, booking City’s players after they crowded around the referee following every incident.

But from then on out Husband reduced what should have been a spectacle between two of the league’s best footballing sides into a bitty, frustrating affair by blowing for soft free-kicks throughout.

It was a surprise to see City defender Jake Newton stay on the pitch after fouling George Lloyd in the area on 12 minutes. Lloyd’s touch was superb as he approached goal, only for last man Newton to bring him down. The Winchester man was yellow-carded.

Lee Smith stepped up to bury with confidence from 12 yards a minute before 40-goal striker and captain Warren Bentley blazed over for the visitors.

It was a sign of things to come as City pried open the home defence in an end-to-end first half-an-hour.

It was on the 31st minute that the tide began to turn. Town captain Keiran Thomas was booked for a supposed handball, although many in the ground felt it had come off the right-back’s head.

Ten minutes later, Thomas was dismissed in soft fashion as he clipped the heels of winger Craig Feeney while tracking back. It was a harsh booking to send Thomas’ back to the changing rooms before half-time.

City took the lead through Feeney six minutes after the restart with a cool finish and three minutes later Bentley gave his side the lead with an identical goal.

The game fell into a stop-start routine for the following 25 minutes as Winchester cynically made the most of every slight contact.

Town could have had a penalty on 75 minutes when Smith’s cross struck the back of Danny King’s arm, but Husband incensed the home bench by waving play on. Town coach Mark Lockwood remonstrated too much for the referee’s liking and was dismissed from the home bench.

Five minutes later, Town drew level through another Smith penalty after substitute Lewis Thompson was flattened in the area.

But the game wasn’t done yet. Masters was given his marching orders a minute later before Sheehan saw a second yellow for a late tackle on Mickey Hubbard having already been booked for dissent.

There could have been further drama if Ethan Moore’s last-gasp lob from 45 yards had dropped a foot to the right, but having caught out Brendan Norris in the away goal, his effort fell just wide.