McFarlane: Canvey defeat hard to take

Jimmy McFarlane experienced mixed emotions as Hornchurch followed defeat at Canvey with a home win over Lowestoft yesterday.

Urchins led 1-0 at Canvey through Martin Tuohy, who was then sent off before the hosts netted four times in the last 25 minutes.

But they bounced back to beat Lowestoft 3-0 and McFarlane said: “These results make the defeat at Canvey a bitter pill to swallow.

“Apart from 24 minutes at Canvey I thought we were excellent. We were by far the better side.

“To be perfectly honest I thought the referee ruined the game. We were 1-0 up and should’ve been three or four up and cruising.

“I haven’t seen the (Tuohy) decision so I cannot comment, but by what I’m told it was handbags stuff.

“Having said that I was disappointed with how we conceded the goals considering how we have been defending recently.”

Canvey netted twice in the closing minutes to give the final scoreline a more flattering look, but Urchins began the new year in style against the Trawlerboys.

Tuohy opened the scoring from the spot, before Lewis Smith and Joe Anderson struck in the second half.

And McFarlane added: “To come and play like we did (against Lowestoft), it does make it harder to take that defeat.

“I thought it was amazing how their nine (Michael Frew) stayed on the park. He thumped Elliott (Styles) and if you get booked for that it is a red card all day long. You look at the penalty, that’s a red card he only has the goalkeeper to beat.

“You’ll watch Match of the Day and every manager from my level upwards will be moaning about he inconsistencies. If they were like robots and done the same thing week in, week out then I think there would be less complaints, you would know what to expect.

“When one takes the rule one way and another referee will take it the complete opposite. I talk more about referees every week than I do about my own players. Someone once said that it evens itself out, but I don’t think it does!”

Centre-back Reiss Noel missed the Lowestoft match due to injury, but McFarlane was more than happy with how his side adapted.

He said: “Reiss got a knock on Saturday and played on for the last 20 minutes on Saturday, but it swelled up and he missed today.

“Having said that, I think our centre-back pairing was absolutely outstanding. I thought the core, right through the middle of our side, was superb.”