Cherries 0 Gillingham 1

CHERRIES manager Mel Machin watched his side suffer a second successive Dean Court defeat before pointing the finger of blame at referee Keith Hill.

Machin was furious with the Hertfordshire-based official's "general decision making" throughout Cherries' 1-0 defeat at the hands of Division 2 rivals Gillingham last night.

Hill also awarded the Gills a crucial free-kick which led to Iffy Onoura grabbing the only goal of the game - another decision which was hotly-disputed by Machin.

Machin, whose side have now won just one of their seven league encounters at Dean Court since the turn of the year, said: "The referee certainly didn't have the best of games.

"His general decision making wasn't very good and even their manager looked at me and laughed his head off after he had given a throw-in the wrong way.

"I don't know what he saw to give a free-kick at the end of the first half which they scored their goal from because nobody committed a foul."

Hill, who was flanked by a posse of stewards as he left the pitch, also booked four players including Cherries trio Claus Jorgensen, Scott Mean and Richard Hughes.

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