'Even the Blackfield players were laughing' - boss Michael Birmingham furious with officials in Horndean's defeat at Blackfield & Langley

Such was the level of Birmingham' s anger following the 2-1 loss, he was shown a red card after the final whistle for his comments towards the officials.

The Deans boss was outraged by several decisions throughout the match as they were knocked off top spot by Hamworthy.

Birmingham claimed his side had a 'perfectly good' first-half goal disallowed when Chad Field headed home, while he was left puzzled when Rob Taw was sin-binned in the second half.

And the Horndean boss told how even the Blackfield players were 'laughing' at some of the decisions which went in their favour.

Birmingham raged: ‘It was an absolute disgrace. He (the referee) was a shambles, he should never, ever, ever referee at this level again.

‘We had a perfectly good goal disallowed in the first-half through Chad Field. He had a header from a set-piece and he (the referee) said Chad elbowed the keeper - the keeper was six-foot away from Chad Field so it was a perfectly good goal from a corner which would have made it 1-1.

‘For their second goal, Jack Lee has ran back with Owen Fee, put in a great defensive tackle , the linesman is seven yards away from Jack Lee - didn’t flag - the referee was 50 yards away, which he was all game, has blown up, given a free-kick, booked Jack Lee and sin-binned Robbie Taw because he thought he gave away the foul.

‘We’ve lost - I’ve lost against AFC Stoneham this season, haven’t kicked off, we lost against Fareham and I haven’t kicked off, we lost against Shaftesbury I haven’t kicked off and again against Hamworthy, I haven’t kicked off. This isn’t sour grapes, this is an absolute disgrace.

‘Even the Blackfield players were laughing. Owen Fee came up to me with 10 minutes to go saying, ‘how on earth has your goal been disallowed and, by the way, that wasn’t a foul on me that was a great bit of defending.’

Owen Fee fired past former Pompey goalkeeper Leon Pitman after just seven minutes before Field's headed goal from a set-piece on 42 minutes was disallowed for an alleged foul on Blackfield goalkeeper Amadeusz Skrzyniarz.

But Horndean, without suspended leading scorer Connor Duffin, were level seven minutes after the restart as captain Ash Howes fired home from close range.

But what would prove a defining two minutes arrived soon after as Taw was sin-binned then Luke Gray grabbed what would prove the winner on 65 minutes.

For Horndean, a sixth league defeat of the season saw them drop down to second with Hamworthy taking top spot thanks to a thumping 8-1 home win over Hamble Club.