EASTLEIGH boss Lee Bradbury was left “frustrated” as his side were pegged back late on to draw with Dorking Wanderers.
The Spitfires looked set to head home with all three points thanks to Alfie Lloyd’s fine early opener.
But the hosts battled back, equalising in the closing stages through former Saints striker Ryan Seager.
Reflecting on the 1-1 draw, Bradbury told the club’s media: “Frustrated, because we should’ve been out of sight.
“We clearly had two penalties turned down. Alfie Lloyd started the game very well and gave them all sorts of problems. He gets bundled down in the box after beating a player, from behind, no attempt to get the ball. I fail to see how it can not be a penalty.
“The other one, Danny (Whitehall) rolls his man and the man has clearly used two arms and thrown him on the floor. But I don’t blame the ref for the second one, because I don’t think he could see it through bodies. But you’d think one of the three officials would’ve seen that.
“But we know what Dorking are about. They’re a high possession-based team, but we made them have the ball in front of us quite a lot, which didn’t hurt us.
“We’ve had to work hard and score a great goal and they get a lucky one which hits Kells (Michael Kelly) in the face and drops straight to Seager, who scores.
“All of a sudden we’ve dropped two points which is frustrating, because I if we’d have held on to that 1-0, I think we’d have gone seventh and into the play-offs.”
He added: “It feels like two points lost, but I said to myself before the game, if we can get four points over the Christmas period, obviously we wanted six, but if we could draw here and win at home, that would be a good return.
“People forget Dorking have beaten some good teams here.
“It is a hard place to come with the way they play. We’re disappointed, but at the same time, there’s a lot of pleasing things in the game.
“We’ll patch ourselves up now and face them again on New Year’s Day.”
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