Whitstable Town boss Jamie Coyle critical of officiating in 2-1 weekend win at Stansfeld - but praises his players for how they dealt with it

Manager Jamie Coyle has described the officiating in Whitstable’s weekend win as some of the worst he’s seen in his football career - and praised his players for how they dealt with it.

The table-topping Oystermen left it late to come from behind to get a 2-1 Southern Counties East League Premier Division success at Stansfeld - a ninth consecutive victory in all competitions.

While it was the hosts who had captain Oliver Andrews sent off for a second booking in the 82nd minute before late goals by striker Javaun Splatt and midfielder Bradley Schafer, former Maidstone, Dartford and Welling man Coyle was left just as unimpressed by some of the big calls by the man in the middle.

“I don’t know,” said Coyle on if Andrews’ dismissal was game-defining. “When you have got that amount of balls going into the opposition’s 18-yard box, sooner or later, you expect one will fall for you.

“Them going down to 10 men did have a huge impact on the game.

“It’s very rare for the manager on the winning side to talk about the officiating, it’s normally the one that has got beaten, but it was one of the worst officiating displays I have ever seen in 26 years!

“There ended up being so many yellow cards by the end and two red cards - one for their player and one for their management staff - and there wasn’t a bad foul in the game.

“Emotionally, it’s one we have had to deal with and we have got to give our players a lot of credit.

“On reflection, the fact we had 11 on the pitch at the end had a massive impact on how the game panned out.

“We wanted maximum points from our three league games since Christmas and the players have delivered that.”

Whitstable, who drew 3-3 at home against Stansfeld in November, had to overcome their stubborn hosts