Cheltenham Town manager Steve Cotterill has defended the controversial penalty decision that helped his side secure a 1-1 draw at Colchester United. The result at the JobServe Community Stadium extended Cheltenham's unbeaten League Two run to five matches, while Colchester were left to rue two major refereeing calls.
Colchester boss Danny Cowley challenged both the penalty award and a late red card shown to Cheltenham substitute Jaden Williams. The first half ended goalless before Moses Sesay put the hosts ahead in the 66th minute, finishing from an Ellis Iandolo assist. The turning point came twelve minutes later when referee Alan Young judged Colchester defender Sean Raggett to have handled the ball. Andreas Weimann converted the resulting spot-kick to level the scores.
Steve Cotterill, who was serving a touchline ban, was unequivocal in his support of the penalty decision. "The penalty was absolutely nailed on," the Cheltenham manager said. He also questioned whether Williams's dismissal for a foul on Robbie Cundy late on actually hindered Colchester's efforts to find a winner. "I don't know whether it actually helped Colchester going down to 10 men because then they could just bank in for the last little bit," Cotterill added.
The single point leaves Colchester 15th in the League Two table with nine points from their opening seven games. Their recent form shows one win, two draws and two losses from the last five outings. The draw with Cheltenham follows a 1-1 result against Crewe Alexandra and a 3-1 defeat away to Swindon Town.
Danny Cowley's side now turn their attention to an away trip to face Shrewsbury Town on Saturday. Shrewsbury currently sit 18th, three points behind Colchester. The U's will be looking to striker J. Payne, their top scorer this season with 13 goals, to help improve their attacking output after scoring eight and conceding ten so far. Check the upcoming schedule on our fixtures page. The squad will need to regroup quickly after a frustrating afternoon where they felt key decisions went against them.
This story first appeared at Yahoo Sports
