MICHAEL McNally was left with a heap of contrasting emotions after his Shrivenham side shone against Bracknell Town in the Hellenic League Challenge Cup but were left to rue a hat-trick of perceived referring injustices.

Shrivvy looked to have one foot in the third round after they raced into a 3-0 lead against their Premier Division hosts thanks to goals from Jamie Prictor, Kias Bonner-Shea and Rob Lincoln but before half-time, Bracknell’s Sebastian Bowerman tucked away two penalties to hack away at the deficit.

The visitors were left aggrieved at the decision to award both spot-kicks, as well as Bracknell’s third in the second period, which was also dispatched by Bowerman.

The final nail in the coffin was then delivered by chief antagonist Bowerman, who fired home a late winner to seal a 4-3 defeat for McNally’s troops, which saw them exit the competition.

“None of my players thought any of the decisions should have been penalties and at the end of the game, their manager has said to me that he couldn’t believe they’d been given,” said the Shrivenham manager.

“For the first one, their player has had a shot and then collided with our goalkeeper, Luke Kuczynski, and the referee’s given it.

“For the second, their lad has had a shot and it’s hit Callum Little from a yard away – he’s turned his back from it and the referee gives another one.

“And then for the third, Paul Carson has nicked the ball off their centre-forward and he’s screamed and gone down, so it’s another penalty.

“It’s hard because I don’t want to focus on the referee – that was a really, really good performance from us.

“We’ve not been great for the last three weeks but we went to a team that are beating good sides in the Premier Division by three or four goals and we were the better team for 70 of the 90 minutes.”

Elsewhere, there was disappointment for New College, who were beaten 4-2 on penalties by Division Two East outfit Chalvey Sports after a 1-1 draw.

Highworth Town did safely navigate themselves into the last 16, where they will travel to Highmoor Ibis, after beating Premier Division rivals Oxford City Nomads 2-0 at the Elms.

Jon Davoile headed Jeff Roberts’ men in front in the first period and Paul Alder tapped home late on to round things off.

Royal Wootton Bassett Town won’t be joining Highworth in the third round due to 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Sandhurst Town.

Steve Robertson notched twice early on to put Rich Hunter’s side in control but Maurice Black struck for their Division One East visitors to make it 2-1 before the break.

Henry Lee’s long-range effort levelled things up at 2-2 before Billy Bryce completed the upset by grabbing Sandhurst’s winner.