Winchester CITY boss Neil Hards fears for the future of Wessex League football if the quality of refereeing doesn't improve.

"The standard of officiating is going backwards and it's high time something was done about it," he said.

"Virtually every manager in the league is saying the same thing. We can't all be wrong!"

It's not so much that Hards expects referees and their assistants to be perfect - more that he finds them unapproachable and unwilling to own up to their mistakes.

"This is a man's game and no one should be above criticism," he said. "I criticise my players if they've made mistakes and I'll hold my hands up if I get team selection or tactics wrong, but with referees you can't so much as talk to these guys. I know they've got a tough job but it would make everyone's lives easier if they communicated a bit more.

"At Downton last Saturday their manager Jeff Softley got sent from the dugout, supposedly for swearing, but he didn't. All he did was call the ref a prat for making a bad decision about a free kick which we ended up scoring from. But Jeff was right, it shouldn't have been given.

"Because of that decision they had two men sent off - the manager and the lad Dan Newman, who scored the two penalties against us."

Hards also claims the ball hit the referee five times at Downton and asked: "How can that happen? They get their positioning wrong because some of them just aren't fit enough.

"Someone's got to get to grips with this because it's ruining the game. We all end up talking about the officials instead of the football."

With Winchester in Hampshire Senior Cup quarter-final action at Stockbridge tomorrow, they will be deposed as league leaders if Thatcham triumph at Wimborne.

It's been a rocky couple of weeks for the reigning champions who, since being dumped out of the Vase at Bridgwater, have dropped five out of six league points.

Hards confessed: "I'm not unduly worried because we're still scoring goals and playing some nice football, but what bothers me is the individual errors we're making.

"We had 80 per cent of the play at Totton, hit the post and the bar and had a perfectly good Lloyd Webber goal disallowed. It's the silly errors we've got to eradicate.

"We scored three goals on Saturday and two on Tuesday but haven't won either game."

Winchester sweeper Liam Green snapped a hamstring at Totton and could be out long-term.

Defender Danny Rofe, signed on a month's loan from Eastleigh, is doubtful for the Stockbridge game with a groin problem. Shaun Dyke is unavailable and both Graeme Gee and Robbie Chamberlain are cup-tied.