Graham Westley called the officials’ decision to award Dagenham and Redbridge’s goal in today’s 1-0 loss a ludicrous one.

Luke Howell scored a tap-in from three yards from Billy Bingham’s cross. The assistant had his flag raised for a run from Joss Labadie but, after a lengthy discussion with the referee, and then the fourth official, it was deemed a goal, depiste suggestions that there was a second offside in the build up.

“For an official to put his flag up and stop having given an offside decision and for a back four to stop, clearly affected by the flag going up, and for the ball to end up being run in the net, and then allowed… You could see there was a problem because the referee was very confused and talked to the linesman for a long time. When you look at all that, it’s a horrendous decision and a horrific way to lose a game,” he said.

He bemoaned the interpretation of the rule, adding that he believed it was the fourth official who actually gave the goal, despite having the same view as Westley from the dugout.

“For me, when the lino stands still with his flag in the air and stops and doesn’t run on to see the second phase where, I’m told there’s another offside…It’s an incredible decision,” he said.

Controversy aside, the manager stated that Stevenage didn’t do enough to win the game, but they certainly didn’t deserved to lose it either.

“It took the offside moment to us, apart from that, [Chris] Day didn’t have much to do,” he explained. “We didn’t score so we didn’t do enough to win, but we didn’t deserve to lose.”