Added February 20th 2006 -

Waltham Forest 3-1 Rothwell Town

This result was a disappointing end to an undefeated run of seven games by Rothwell Town which stretches back to the end of 2005. Winners Waltham Forest were helped by some controversial refereeing by Mr Parker, however. The first incident came when Andy Brown went down injured in his own box, and lay for over a minute with play only stopping when the Stags won a corner. Brown - a key defender - was forced to leave the field and only allowed back on after the corner had been taken.

Unfortunately, this was enough time for Waltham to take the lead through Jermaine Hughes. Rothwell were frustrated against when Justin Jenkins had his legs whipped from under him on the point of shooting. The assistant referee signalled for a penalty. But Mr Parker, 20 yards away, shook his head and waved play on.

To their credit, the Bones battled on and equalised four minutes later. A Steve Towers free-kick was initially blocked by the wall. But he was first to the rebound and powered home a shot which Charlie Hasler did not even see before it his the back of the net. The hosts re-took the lead with ten minutes to go when Ludovic Dje headed home. Michael Boyle-Chong then had a shot blocked for Rothwel, and Paul Rice was inches wide.

But as the visitors pushed for another equaliser, they were caught out and Hughes added their third - despite it looking suspiciously like his hand guiding the ball into the net. Of course Mr Parer did not see this one either. All is not lost for Rothwell as far as the play-offs are concerned. Thanks to other results going their way on the day they are still in with a shout of finishing in the top six.

Waltham Forest: Hasler, Stevens, Harvey, C Brown, Tickner, Duporte, Georgiou (sub Haughton 67), Asaikpuka, Hughes, Dje, Orilonishe. Subs (not used): Kilapi, Willis, Guei, Kanyuka

Rothwell Town: Allen, A Brown (sub Capps 17), Spencer, Rice, Flannigan, Maddox, Boyle-Chong, Towers, Almond (sub Tolton 66), Jenkins, Brooks (sub Wright 84)

Goals: Hughes (4 mins), Towers (29 mins), Dje (81 mins), Hughes (90 mins)

Booking: Rice (dissent)

Att: 63

Referee: Mr A Parker