‘Harsh’ penalty decision denies Potton derby win

After drawing a blank the previous week Potton shuffled the deck. Martin Danobrega was given his first start after 10 weeks out and Ryan Don returned to central midfield.

It was the visitors who were on top early on. Robbie Buchanan, on loan from Biggleswade Town, shot wide of Tyler Josephs’ goal. And they took the lead when Kim Forsythe beat Jonny Hall for pace and slotted home.

Potton equalised three minutes later when Martin Danobrega robbed the defence and looked up to place his shot low to keeper Harper’s left.

And on 24 minutes Potton had the lead. Mo Ahmed released Danny Webb whose cross was met by a powerful Ansell Carter shot into the back of the net.

In the second half the game developed into a midfield battle and it looked liked Potton would hold onto their slender advantage.

This changed though on 78 minutes when a ball bounced up and appeared to hit Hall around the shoulders – despite the fact there was no appeal, the referee adjudged this to be handball and awarded a penalty. Kieran Barnes stepped up to score.

Four players were then booked after Barnes kicked the ball at Christian Smail’s head and the melee that followed took eight minutes to bring under control. In the next attack Barnes was shown a second yellow card when Smail was elbowed.

The Royals have no fixture on Saturday but travel on Tuesday to take on Enfield Borough in the league cup semi final.