'Everybody there said it was never a 4-1 game' - AFC Portchester boss Dave Carter unhappy with performance of officials as Hamworthy are crowned league champions

The Hammers' victory saw them secure the title on the Royals' patch, yet boss Carter insisted it was an undeserved losing margin they went down by in the end.

While the Royals chief was unhappy with the awarding of Tim Sills' troops' third goal from hat-trick hero Max Wilcock, which Carter felt had not crossed the line.

And he was further enraged with the failure to award his men a goal minutes earlier, with an effort which the Portchester boss claimed had gone in.

‘Everybody there said it was never a 4-1 game. Their third goal, obviously we're chasing the game, the referee kept giving soft free-kicks in and around our area - he was just giving them free-kick, after free-kick and not giving us anything,’ said Carter.

‘We had one cleared off the line to make it two-all then the linesman, somehow, then says their one was over the line to score their third when our one wasn't (goalline clearance).

‘That was their third and that really killed us. Marley Ridge was the one who tried to clear off the line (for Hamworthy's third goal) and he got sin-binned for protesting saying it wasn't over the line.’

Wilcock set the Hammers on the way to what would prove a title-securing triumph, glancing a header past Steve Mowthorpe on the half-hour mark.

Barcelos had an effort cleared on the line minutes later, then Sam Pearce headed the hosts back on terms on 33 minutes.

But Hamworthy restored their lead right on the stroke of half time, as Wilcock was quickest to react after Steve Devlin's shot had cannoned out off the crossbar.

With the Royals desperately trying to get back into the game, Wilcock completed his hat-trick on 86 minutes - much to the frustration of the hosts who felt the ball had not crossed the line - with Marley Ridge sin-binned for his protests following his attempted clearance on the line.

The title party was then topped off as Eddie Hodge found the net late on to compound a day of frustration in terms of the result at least for Portchester.