ENRAGED boss Carl Poore felt referee Paul Froud had allowed Winchester City to dictate his decisions having watched Verwood Town succumb to a second-half avalanche.

The hosts had led through Jordan Fisk’s 37th-minute strike at Potterne Park before Warren Bentley levelled from the penalty spot with what proved to be the first of four City goals in 15 minutes.

Zach Glasspool’s brace came either side of Scott Sampson’s header before Adam Roberts rounded off the 5-1 reverse late on but Poore was left “baffled” by four decisions, the first three he felt had “totally changed the course of the game”.

The Potters boss was adamant Winchester should have been reduced to 10 men for an “horrific” challenge on Matt McGilchrist during the first half and insisted that Dan Munday’s first-half strike, ruled out for offside, should have stood.

Poore’s mood worsened when Roberts’s tangle with Tom Whelan went unpunished only for the City midfielder to pick up a yellow card five minutes later for a poor tackle.

To make matters worse, at 3-1 down, Ben Kelly was sent off for deliberate handball despite Verwood’s protestations that the defender had been shoved in the back. Glasspool netted the fourth goal from the resulting free-kick.

Poore told the Daily Echo: “Take nothing away from Winchester, they deserved their victory across the 90 minutes and we got what we expected from them.

“But if the officials had got their decisions right, we would have been 2-0 up against nine men.

“Nine times out of 10, you would not expect us to beat them but when the opportunity arises you need decisions to go your way. The referee did not get many correct and it cost us.

“There was also a bit of naivety on our part. Winchester were on at the referee all game and it worked, he gave them all the decisions and maybe we need to toughen up in that respect.

“Some of the calls were just mind-boggling. They got on top of the referee and we did not do enough of that. Maybe we should.

“I do not like the idea of it but we are scrapping away at the wrong end of the table. If officials are going to buckle in that manner then we have to make sure we are on the right end of it.

“Winchester are a big club with a big reputation and they ran the game. If they can get away with it, why can’t we?”

Referee Froud politely declined to comment.

Potters: Lynch, McGilchrist (Clampin, 80), Buck, Kelly, Gajic, Whelan, Rutten (Dyer, 50), Lowes, Munday, Groves, Fisk (Foster, 65). Unused sub: Golby.