WINCHESTER City were left to rue missed chances and a contentious refereeing decision after yesterday's 1-1 home draw against Highworth Town in the Evo-Stik Division One South.

City led by a 44th-minute Oli Bailey strike at half-time and should have had more before the game took a couple of twists towards the end of the second half.

Highworth had Toumani Sidibe red-carded on 74 minutes for a hefty challenge on City skipper Jamie Barron, who was forced off injured.

But Winchester were in for a shock on 81 minutes when the referee pointed to the spot for a push by Joe Cook, that only he appeared to see, and Ash Edenborough levelled.

“I don’t think anyone knew what it had been given for. They (Highworth) didn’t even appeal for it,” said City boss Craig Davis.

“But the reason we didn’t win the game was being sloppy in front of goal. We played some excellent football and created a lot more than we had at Totton (another 1-1 draw), but we missed chance after chance.”

Following their FA Cup heroics, City have slipped to 12th in the table, two points behind Highworth with two games in hand.

“Bearing in mind they’re above us in the league, I suppose we can be sort of satisfied that we dominated the game,” said Davis, who was joined in the dugout by a new assistant manager.

Mark Watson, a former Aldershot, AFC Totton and Lymington & New Milton goalkeeper, who works at the Watford FC academy and had already been coaching at City, has replaced the departed John McFarlane.

"Delighted to have Watto on board assisting me," said Davis. "He has worked through the summer with Prycey (goalkeeper Ryan Pryce), which has been fantastic for him.

"With the management vacancy, he stepped in short-term and has been superb. He has vast amounts of experience and knowledge and has slotted in seamlessly!"

*Last Thursday a mixed Winchester City side, laced with youth, progressed in the Southampton Senior Cup...but only just.

After going 3-0 down early in the second half against Folland Sports of Sydenhams One, they managed to claw themselves back to 3-3 with just three minutes to spare before going through 4-2 on penalties.

"Follands belied their Wessex 1 status, and gave us a real fright - and will feel justifiably dissapointed to lose the game on penalties," said City's director of football Dave Malone.