Bashley manager Geoff Butler reckons referee Simon Hooper "bottled it" when he abandoned the New Forest side's clash against Hastings United in the New Forest.

Former Saints Academy defender Luke Byles gave Bashley a fifth minute lead on his debut when he drove in a 20-yarder in torrential rain. And Byles had another shot headed off the line and onto the crossbar.

But Hastings hit back when Ryan Peters chipped goalkeeper David Elm for a 37th-minute equaliser - and then the visitors' Simon Rowland was stretchered off after colliding with a goal post, before Hooper abandoned the match with the score at 1-1.

Butler raged: "The match should never have been called off, the ref got it completely wrong. If he called it off 20 minutes into the game it would have been understandable because the rain had been torrential but by half-time it had eased off and he said he was going to continue the match for another ten minutes, to see how it went.

"I blew my top when he changed his mind. He said he thought it was too dangerous because the Hastings player had bruised his rib when he hit the post but that was one of those things. After the game was called off there was no more rain for an hour and half, which made it even more frustrating for the fans that only got 50 per cent value for money and for all the players.

"Hastings will now have to come down another time and we had done brilliantly for 35 minutes against the wind. Steve Lovell, the Hastings manager, wasn't as keen as us to finish the game but he was happy to and between us we've got 70 years of experience in the game - and the ref still wouldn't listen.

"He was petrified of another playing getting an injury."