IT IS becoming the story of Chipstead's season but despite throwing away a 2-0 lead in Guernsey, manager Steve Baker insisted he was more frustrated with the officials' decisions.
The High Road side were 2-0 up after just 16 minutes of Saturday's tie, both from Dan Moody, the second of which was from the penalty spot and while the Green Lions eventually came back to win 3-2, Baker believes the reaction of the opposition fans was telling.
"When the home side won the game and yet their 800-odd fans are booing off the officials, that tells you something," the Chips boss said. "My biggest frustration wasn't that we lost, it was the decisions. I wasn't sure about the penalty we were given, someone told me they had seen a video of the incident and it was the right decision, but ten minutes after that we should have had another penalty, it was stonewall.
"And then near the end one of their players seemed to punch the ball away in the area. The referee said his hand was in a natural position but I've never seen someone walk around with their hand like that. Unless everyone is Guernsey is permanently giving each other high-fives."
And while the Chipstead boss was pleased with his side's performance in the defeat, he admits their inability to hold onto a lead is worrying.
"Last year, once we had got a good side together, that didn't happen," he said. "This year, we have the same squad but if anything we are stronger, and we just can't hold onto a lead.
"Every time we go ahead, we look like we might concede. After we scored the first goal in Guernsey, they hit the crossbar and they pulled a goal back straight after we went 2-0 up.
"Just like you get a winning habit or a losing habit, we have a habit of conceding goals just after we score them, and as the manager it's something I need to work on."
