Defeat to Bamber Bridge was 'bitter pill to swallow' for Buxton FC boss Gary Hayward

The Bucks squandered a host of first-half chances but were not helped in their cause with two dubious decisions by the match officials.

The first saw a quickly-taken free-kick, finished off by Diego De Girolamo, ruled out earlier on in the game before allowing a questionable Brig winner.

Claims for offside were ignored by the referee who later apologised to Hayward for letting the decisive goal stand.

Hayward told the Advertiser: “I have never knocked on the referee’s door after the game in all of my 25 years of management. I always take it on the chin and move on.

“But I was so bemused by the decision – the blatant offside goal – I asked him if he could answer a couple of questions. He said ‘yes’.

“Firstly, I asked him about the decision to cancel out our goal from the free-kick and he said their captain wasn’t ready. He said ‘really, I made a mistake’ – which was a big one.

“Secondly, I asked him why he didn’t disallow their second goal to which he said ‘I apologise, I got it wrong’.

“He was waiting for the linesman to flag, the linesman didn’t put his flag up because the referee was there and the linesman thought the referee was going to blow for offside.

“It’s of no consolation to me.

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow because that’s another point on the road and every point is valuable at the moment.”

And added: “The officials weren’t bad but there were two crucial mistakes which have cost my team the game or at least a point.”

Hayward is keen to bring in a central defender, midfielder and a striker this week.

“It’s got to be done,” said Hayward. “As the manager I’ve got to act.

“I can’t keep leaving it because we’ve set off well but slumped a little bit – and I’m not having it.

“There will be extra training for them. They’ll be sprinting, they’ll be working hard and that’s how we’re going to get through it.”

While experienced midfielder Brian Wilson left the club.

Buxton are home to FC United of Manchester on Saturday before hosting Warrington Town on Tuesday night (7.45pm).