HORSHAM YMCA boss John Suter blamed his side's third-round exit on a refereeing blunder.

Suter confronted Devizes official Andrew Sainsbury and his linesmen after the match to ask why they allowed the winning goal, two minutes into the second half from Kevin Murphy, to stand.

Murphy appeared offside as he scrambled home after a half-cleared corner from Kevin Reacord was headed forward by Martin Cornwall to him.

Suter said: "Everybody in the ground thought it was offside and I asked the referee how he and his linesman on the right side of the pitch managed to miss it.

"We didn't play very well, I know that, but it's disappointing to get knocked out by a goal which should never have been allowed.

"This was an important match and one we desperately wanted to win and on reflection we deserved at least extra-time and possibly a replay."

There was no hiding from the fact that his Unijet County League side produced a below-par performance against a physical Totton team challenging for honours in the Jewson Wessex League.

Often Suter's men were caught napping with slapdash defending and were fortunate not to have fallen behind before the winner.

YM defender Dean Potter admitted his side can have few complaints about missing out on a place in the last 16 with a display that rarely threatened home goalkeeper Wayne Shaw until the last moments.

Potter said: "We didn't play to our full potential, but thought we did enough to take the game into extra-time. Yet I suppose if you take our performance into consideration, we probably didn't deserve to go through.

"It's just the way we've gone out which is hard to swallow, but that happens in football and you just have to get on with it."

YM had a golden opportunity to force extra-time in the dying seconds when substitute Richard Camps scuffed a shot wide when one-on-one with Shaw.

Suter said: "On Friday night, he scored two spectacular goals for the reserves against St Francis Hospital. You would normally put money on him finding the goal in one of those situations."

Totton rarely allowed their visitors an opening with giant centre-halves Murphy and Cornwall dominant in the air. Too often balls were lofted upfield, meat and drink to the back pair. It was obvious the best way to crack this commanding partnership was to play the ball on the deck and outdo them for pace.

But, although orders were conveyed throughout from the dugout, the players failed to respond and invited pressure by giving the ball away far too often.

YM goalkeeper Jason Dumbrill was called into action on a couple of occasions in the first half, getting down low to a Nick Ross shot on 15 minutes and saving from former Orient marksman Andy Gray after Warren Tilley was caught in possession.

After the hosts had gone in front, YM had an terrific chance to level. With keeper Shaw off his line, Tilley lobbed wide from the left edge of the box.

YM can now only look forward to the Sussex Senior Cup when they face Horsham in a derby next month.

Potter said: "We can't wait to turn over Horsham!"

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