DARREN Perrin was left fuming at a red card that never was as holders Melksham Town were knocked out of the Wiltshire Cup with a 3-2 defeat at Highworth Town.

Melksham seemed on course for a place in the semi-finals after building up a 2-0 first-half lead at the Elms courtesy of goals from Gary Higdon and Dan Kovacs.

A huge moment of controversy then arrived just before the break as Highworth keeper Gary Stevens charged off his line and clattered into Kovacs just inside the box.

And despite the linesman appearing to flag for a foul against the keeper, which forced Kovacs off injured, the referee awarded the free-kick the other way.

The let-off clearly galvanised the home side and they hauled themselves back into the contest, levelling the scores in the final minute before snatching the win in extra-time.

“It was one of the most staggering decisions I’ve seen in all my years of football,” said Perrin.

“I don’t want to get myself in trouble but we’ve been on the end of a horrendous decision.

“It was a big game and we’re not talking about how good the match was – we’re talking about the officials.

“If it’s given we’re 2-0 up with a penalty and the chance to go 3-0 against ten men and a side without a regular goalkeeper as they didn’t have a substitute on the bench.

“Highworth know what happened, we know what happened, and all the supporters who were there know what happened.

“But it’s not Highworth’s fault and we wish them all the best now.

“Having said all that, it wasn’t given and we were still 2-0 up at half-time. It’s really disappointing because we were about three seconds from closing the game out.

“But there are positives for us and I was delighted with the discipline shown by my lads because there were a few strong challenges and we’re very concerned about Dan Kovacs.

“I can’t fault the character of my team.

“We’re disappointed to go out and we’d have loved to have had a crack at winning it again, hence the reason we put such a strong team out.”

Melksham are back in league action on Saturday and entertain Bitton.