Shirebrook Town left angry at controversial decision during defeat

Shirebrook Town were back on the road on Saturday afternoon for the second of four consecutive away games as they headed to Grantham to play Harrowby United.

As the game got underway Shirebrook made the worst possible start as Harrowby were awarded a penalty in just the 3rd minute of the game when Mitch Leivers brought down Elliot King. It was King who stepped up to take the penalty however Leivers got down to his right and produced a fantastic save to keep out the spot kick.

Having had a very early let off Shirebrook now set about trying to get a goal themselves with Ollie Fearon twice going close the first a header that went just off target and the second being a cross from the left that Fearon managed to get to but again couldn’t get his effort on target.

Fabian Johnson also tried his luck from distance as he saw his shot go just over the bar however the home side also had a few chances themselves with Eliot King and Harrison Allcock being denied by Leivers.

On the stroke of half time Shirebrook had their best chance of the half as Ollie Fearon found himself with space to run into and as the Harrowby keeper came flying out Fearon lifted the ball over him but it wouldn’t come down quick enough as it landed just on top of the net and the sides would go in at half time still level.

As the second half got underway Shirebrook made a bright start with Fabian Johnson going close for Shirebrook.

But the deadlock was broken in the 54th minute when Harrowby took the lead in very controversial circumstances when Shirebrook defender Connor McMillan collided with a Harrowby player and was left on the floor with a bloody nose.

The ref allowed play to go on Mitchell Leivers manged to produce a save to keep out Tom Harris shot but Eliot King prodded the ball in from close range.

Shirebrook were understandably fuming at the officials for what had happened in the build up to the goal but Shirebrook's protest fell on deaf ears and the goal would stand.

When the game eventually restarted Shirebrook found themselves temporally down to 9 men as McMillan spent a number of minutes receiving treatment and Ollie Fearon was sin binned.

Once Shirebrook were back up to 11 players they set about trying to get back into the game and they did just that in the 66th minute when Ollie Fearon was played through with space to run into and made no mistake as he found the bottom corner to level the score.

As Shirebrook pushed to try and find a winner it was the home side who retook the lead in the 80th minute when they got their second penalty of the afternoon. This time Harrison Dee stepped up to take and sent Leivers the wrong way and as Shirebrook began to commit more players forward to try and get something from the game Harrowby were awarded their 3rd penalty of the afternoon in injury-time. Harrison Dee again stepped up to take the penalty but this time his effort smacked against the bar but it wouldn’t matter as the home side had done enough to claim all 3 points.

After the game Shirebrook assistant manager John Knapper said: “I couldn’t be more pleased with the players today I would say that is one of our best performances of the season.

"I thought we did more than enough to get at least a point if not all 3 so to come away with nothing is very disappointing. However we can’t ignore what happened with the first goal I understand it’s a very difficult job being a referee and they do miss things, but when we have a player down with a head injury he should stop play.

"he didn’t and then 10 seconds later were a goal down it doesn’t make sense that is a decision that could have big ramifications at the end of the season, but there is nothing we can do about it now. We will move onto Wednesday night away at Heanor and try to get something from that game to help pull us away from the bottom two."

Shirebrook starting XI Leivers Russell Jules Johnstone McMillan Evans Burgess Millen (Clogg) Fearon Johnson (Bult) Green (Harrad)