Tenbury United 1 Ellesmere 3

A DUBIOUS penalty decision and a free-kick inside the area for handling a back-pass cost United any reward from their West Midlands League Division 1 game against high-riding Ellesmere at Palmer's Meadow.

Without these two incidents the sides were evenly matched and United could have pulled the curtain down on a disappointing year with a good result that would have lifted them out of the bottom three.

Tenbury started slowly and were soon a goal down. When Byron Davies fielded the ball six-yards out the referee awarded a free-kick for a back-pass, and Ellesmere drove the ball through a packed defence on the line. Worse was to follow midway through the half, the home team were left flabbergasted when the referee indicated a penalty after the linesman had spotted an apparent kick, and they were two down.

Understandably, the home side was rattled by the decision, and play became feisty for the rest of the half. They conceded a further goal when Ellesmere popped home the rebound when Davies blocked a free-kick.

After cooling down during the interval, the home side played well in the second half, they reduced the deficit midway through and should have grabbed a second minutes later. Aaron Morris volleyed home from a through ball from Ashley Botwood, and then Brett McIntosh blasted over the top from close-range after meeting a centre from Ryan Morris. They stayed in control but the closest they came to salvaging something from the game was a Graham Caldicott effort that struck the woodwork.

In the final analysi, Tenbury matched their title-chasing opponents in an entertaining encounter that saw them defend tidily against their opponents' long-ball game and also cause some problems with their neat football, but were left with nothing to show for it.