COLCHESTER United boss Danny Cowley was disappointed with the decision to allow Brentford’s controversial winning goal after his battling side were knocked out of the Carabao Cup.
Aaron Donnelly appeared to be shoved by Bees forward Kevin Schade, prior to Keane Lewis-Potter tapping into the net just before half-time.
However, referee Paul Howard was happy to allow the goal to stand.
It proved to be the winner in an absorbing second-round tie, with U’s substitute Jack Payne seeing his penalty saved by Brentford goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson, late on.
Cowley said: “I’m proud of the players and I’m proud of the football club.
“I thought the supporters were equally as brilliant as the players.
“We were playing against a Premier League team, we have to make lots of changes; we go with an 18-year-old in midfield and two 19 year olds in Bradley (Ihionvien) and Samson (Tovide) as our forwards.
“They’ve all come from our academy and I think anyone attached to our academy can be mighty proud tonight.
“But I’m disappointed with the way that we’ve lost, because we didn’t deserve that.
“I’ve managed 900 games and that’s always gets given as a foul.
“The defender (Aaron Donnelly) is shepherding the ball back, gets pushed and their player (Kevin Schade) actually tramples over him; he gets such forward momentum, he pushes him, Aaron lands and he tramples over him.
“Everyone seemed to stop; I looked over and their analyst was just shaking his head.
“What’s so tough to take was that it was the fifth time – we’ve had the Wimbledon penalty, we’ve had the Reading game where the boy on a booking should have been sent off, we had two game-changing moments (against Harrogate)…I love this game, football is a great game and we have the best football pyramid in the whole world.
“But our referees have to be given some help and be full-time.
“Most of them are part-time; in League One and League Two, sometimes they’re officiating in front of 20,000-30,000 people.
“I’ve been a non-league manager, I’ve been a PE teacher working all day and then coming to manage in the evening and I know how much that takes.
“There’s no way that you can perform at your best under those circumstances, so we have to help them, because they’re so short of it.”
Colchester more than matched Brentford throughout the 90-plus minutes, in front of a crowd of nearly 7,000 at the JobServe Community Stadium.
Cowley added: “Brentford are a brilliant team, they’ve got some fantastic players and they’re incredibly well coached.
“It’s hard enough as it is so when you get decisions go against you, it makes it even tougher.
“But I want to talk about the players, because I thought they were incredible.
“Young Milton Oni is 18 and was playing Step 8 in non-league football for Maldon and Tiptree, last year.
“He’s playing against Premier League players and he showed athleticism that is at Premier League level.
“His composure was incredible.
“Bradley and Samson at just 19 showed so much athleticism.
“I know we’re really disappointed but I do actually think it was a proud moment for the football club.”
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