Both handball decisions looked fairly straightforward to me. At first I thought it was Bremang who handled for ours but, looking directly across the pitch in line with the incident (on the opposite side to the linesman) an arm clearly appeared to stretch out and scoop the ball away. Even looking from 80 yards away on the other side of the pitch, I Chambers' arm appeared to be so far away from his body (and the ball got him right on the hand) I don't think the referee had much choice. I thought maybe he was outside the box, so assuming the referee called that part correctly he must have only just been inside. He got away with one of the very much "seen them given" on Tuesday night, jumping in front of a shot and turning his body to block with an elbow, so it's swings and roundabouts.
The first half was a bit cagey with nothing in it. Bremang was played through to the right of goal but dragged his shot just wide of the far post with his weaker right foot. Their centre forward almost turned in a low cross at the near post.
I thought we looked the likelier scorers after half time, albeit without creating clear chances, but a chilly easterly wind was just strong enough to blow the ball around and spoil the game as a spectacle. Cheshunt only really threatened us from set pieces and we dealt with those capably enough, until that fateful penalty incident.
Yes tale of two pens and ours was the worst but the shithousery from them before ours was off the scale.
Since when has the keeper been able to visit the bench for instructions before the kick?
I can't believe none of their players was booked for that incident. Three of them surrounded the referee near the spot while a fourth began to hack at the penalty spot with his boot. Then, with Bremang holding the ball and waiting to take the kick, Ravan Constable jogged over to the touchline for a chat with Preston Edwards.
When they got their kick Krasniqi was booked for failing to vacate the area, then Barnes for being too slow to take up position on his line, which was a complete joke given how much more time Constable had wasted with his antics.
We now have three consecutive matches against promotion contenders at Dover, then home to Dartford, followed by a trip to Cray Valley. Thankfully we're still well clear of the bottom four after three of them lost today, with Bognor picking up a single point, but on paper any points from those games will be a bonus. Dover looks the best bet, as they're well down in the recent form table and in danger of getting bumped out of the final play-off place, having been well clear at the top a couple of months ago.
