Truro City’s FA Trophy Exit Marked by Manager Askey’s Frustration with Referee

John Askey, who has guided his side to second place in National League South after 17 matches, stated that Truro City felt they were the recipient of a poor refereeing decision during their 1-0 FA Trophy loss at Torquay United. Connor Riley-Lowe had struck the ball into the top corner just before half-time, but the goal was subsequently disallowed for offside by referee Lewis Sandoe, despite having initially awarded it. Torquay ultimately secured a 1-0 victory due to Dan Hayfield’s free-kick in the 53rd minute, advancing them to the competition’s third round. Askey informed BBC Radio Cornwall that the referee’s explanation was: “He (the referee) said that there were two players in an offside position blocking their keepers view when Connor shot. That was his excuse,” “He actually gave the goal, went over to linesman, we haven’t got VAR so I don’t know what he was consulting about. The ball’s gone in the top corner, the keeper’s got no chance of saving it and it’s bizarre.” “I know Torquay have had one or two dodgy decisions, against them in the last few weeks, whether referees talk and whether they’re trying to even things up, but we’ve also had a load of dodgy decisions against us.” “But you’ve got to get on with it. I was pleased with how we played, I thought we dominated the game for the majority of the 90 minutes” “We just didn’t take the chances. We were in a lot of good positions, but didn’t finish.”