Jimmy Quinn was unhappy with the performance at Gravesend & Northfleet, but he felt the game turned on a controversial sending-off decision.

United were containing the in-form home side without ever hitting some of the recent heights, and the Fleet only took the lead through a penalty after Trevor Robinson was adjudged to have handled the ball on the line at a corner.

With United reduced to ten men following Robinson's subsequent dismissal the home side doubled their lead with eight minutes remaining, and afterwards Quinn said he would examine the video carefully.

"The penalty settled the match," he stated. "I couldn't see from where I was standing but it looked like Trevor headed it and he swears he headed it.

"I won't know until I see the video, but I asked if it was for a push or for handball and Trevor says it was definitely for a handball and there's no way the ball touched his hand.

"So when you look at that, I'd have been happy with a point today because we didn't play well, we didn't threaten their goal nearly enough and I don't think we've had a decent effort at goal apart from the one that was offside. So you'd have been happy with a point but if the referee has got it wrong then it's very disappointing.

"But I'm not making the penalty an excuse - I expected us to play better than that today and it was a poor performance."

After the sending-off Quinn had to shuffle his side to try to compensate, and he added, "You have to readjust and you're a man down and a goal down too from the penalty being scored, so that knocks your confidence. We did OK in patches but we struggled and we were not nearly good enough."

Explaining his decision to leave winger Courtney Pitt on the bench and call up midfielder Ritchie Hanlon, the manager said, "It was to tighten things up in midfield because they play with three centre backs and three central midfield players, and I thought if we go man for man we can get tight and stop them playing a little bit.

"We did that for the best part without really stamping our authority on the game. It was mostly defending and I said to the lads at half-time that if we can improve going forward we've got a chance of winning it, but obviously you can't legislate for refereeing decisions like that.

"If it was a handball, the ref has a hell of an eye because I never saw it and I don't usually miss much, but Steve (Castle) didn't see it either on the bench.

"But it doesn't excuse the performance and I wasn't happy with it at all. I thought too many players played with fear in their play and I don't like to see that, and I don't know what that is other than a lack of confidence, which is surprising because we've done really well of late.

"It's about the calibre of player," he added. "One of the biggest things about football is coping with disappointment and dealing with situations, and in times when you're not playing well you can still roll your sleeves up and have a go.

"I'm not saying any of those lads went out there on purpose not to work hard but it just seems that we were off the pace a little bit, and when they got the first goal that gave them the confidence to go on and take the thing forward.

"So I'm really disappointed in some individual performances but I'm not going to harp on about it. We have another game on Tuesday so we've got to put this behind us and be positive in our minds. I've said to the lads I don't want anyone apportioning blame after that performance because it's a team game and we're all in it together.

"What we have to do now is go to York and put in a far better performance."

Of today's opponents, Quinn commented, "They were a typical team that's well-organised and they fight for every ball, a bit like Tamworth with a little bit more quality, but I was disappointed with our defending today. I think the only one at the back who stood out was Michael Morrison.

"In the midfield it was much of a muchness and they never really got to grips with the game, and the two lads up front didn't really hold the ball up well enough.

"If you're not holding the ball up and setting play up in those areas, it's very hard to get chances. So when you have probably just one player playing to his potential then it was a bad day at the office.

"But we'll put that behind us and we'll regroup on Monday and we'll look forward to the game at York on Tuesday."

Returning again to the question of the controversial sending-off decision, and the possibility of an appeal, Quinn concluded, "If it wasn't a handball then I'll be very disappointed in the referee because a point today would have been a good result to take us into the next game.

"If he's got that decision wrong then it's a poor decision and when it involves penalties it really does need to be looked at."

United are next in action at York City on Tuesday night (7.45pm) followed by Crawley Town at the Abbey Stadium next Saturday.

In addition, the youth team are at home to Bury Town at the Abbey on Wednesday evening (7.30pm) and your support for the youngsters would be very welcome. Admission prices £4 for adults and £2 for concessions.

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