JAMES Fry could not hide his frustration with the officials following Alvechurch’s heated 1-0 home defeat against St Ives Town.
Substitute Gregory Kaziboni scored the game’s only goal on 78 minutes at Lye Meadow after Church’s Joe Willis saw red for two yellow cards.
With the match goalless, Fry felt a high challenge on Sam Perry should have received a harsher punishment before Willis saw red after the same player saw his appeals for a penalty fall on deaf ears earlier in the second half.
Fry said: “I’m frustrated, I’m not going to hide that, it’s a mixture of things because we started the game really well.
“We didn’t score while we were on top, we allowed them to grow into the game, we knew that we had to turn everything up by 10 per cent.
“Ultimately, the game gets flipped on its head by three decisions. We’ve been done away at Telford which cost us points with a penalty, away at Spalding it was very similar, we then don’t get it [the penalty] here.
“If we score when we’re on top and get that penalty, the whole complexion of the game changes. Sam Perry has a mark halfway up his leg, it’s late, the referee gives their player a yellow card.
“We didn’t manage our emotions, I can’t argue with our sending off. What I will say is, deal with the first one and he doesn’t get a yellow card in the first place.
“I don’t want to hide behind it, I never hide behind officials but it was frustrating. The game changed on the decisions.”
The game burst into life after the break when Willis went to ground in the box under a challenge from a St Ives player only for referee Alex Rolfe to wave away Church’s protests.
St Ives’s Kymani Skyers then picked up a yellow card for a strong challenge on Perry after the referee mistakenly sent off the visiting player believing he had already received a caution.
To rub salt in the wounds, Willis then received his marching orders after catching a St Ives player when competing for a bouncing ball when already on a yellow card.
And St Ives made the man advantage count with 12 minutes left to play as Amaru Kaunda beat the offside trap before squaring to Kaziboni who scuffed a shot into the bottom left corner.
Alvechurch are next in action against Stourbridge in the FA Trophy on Saturday, October 26 with kick-off at 3pm at the War Memorial Athletic Ground.
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