KNOWLE’S joint manager Clive Seeley refused to blame the officials after the Robins had an injury time goal ruled out for offside in a 1-1 draw away at Fairfield Villa.
Jay Rendell thought he had won the game for Knowle at the death only for the assistant referee’s flag to rule out his effort for offside.
That came after Nathan Corry equalised for the Robins, cancelling out Darren Green’s opener, at Stourbridge Road after the pitch survived a morning inspection.
The result means Knowle sit 10 points clear at the top of the Midland Football League Division Two table although boss Seeley felt his side had enough chances to win the game.
Seeley said: “It was hard work, I’m not making excuses but I don’t think the pitch helped either team, it was borderline playable.
“We said ‘let’s forget the pitch’ we’ve got to come to the party but unfortunately we didn’t.
“When we go a goal behind, we’re finding it hard to see it home and go that extra mile, when we get the first goal we look like we can trounce teams.
“We had chances to win it, Jay was convinced he was onside at the end and our footage proves he was but we can’t blame the officials we just weren’t good enough on the day.”
The Robins dominated the opening half-hour only for Fairfield to take the lead against the run of play when Green’s low shot from 10-yards out bobbled past Knowle goalkeeper Craig Johnson.
However, the visitors drew level nine minutes later when Corry tapped home a cross from the right to send the teams in level at the break.
And despite another strong second-half performance, the Robins were unable to complete the turnaround with Rendell denied at the death despite appearing to be onside.
Knowle are next in action against Alcester Town on Saturday, February 3 in the Les James Challenge Cup with kick-off at 2.15pm.
