"Worst decision I've seen" - Stockport County's Dave Challinor reacts to Leyton Orient's offside goal

Stockport County manager Dave Challinor described the awarding of Leyton Orient's first goal as 'the worst decision he's seen in 15 years of management' after his side were held to a 2-2 draw in their League One play-off semi-final first leg.

The Hatters fought from behind with two quickfire goals from Oliver Norwood and Fraser Horsfall before Charlie Kelman chalked up his second of the afternoon from the penalty spot to restore parity in a pulsating contest at Brisbane Road.

While there were no arguments about the nature of Kelman's second goal, Stockport were left furious after the Orient striker broke the deadlock despite straying into an offside position.

Kelman was a considerable distance ahead of the Stockport defensive line when he latched onto Omar Beckles' flicked header and the 23-year-old had the freedom to convert beyond Corey Addai.

The official on the near side failed to flag, prompting a furious response from the Stockport players and their remonstrations continued at the half-time interval while Challinor confronted referee Ben Speedie down the tunnel.

Speaking to Sky Sports on the offside incident after the match, Challinor said: "I probably don't need to say anything because it's glaringly obvious.

"The problem for me is the process they've gone through. There will be loads of subjective decisions on a football pitch but that is plain and clearly four yards offside.

"Now there can be an argument where they don't know if the player has flicked it on. That's fine, but we've got a referee, two fourth officials and another two officials on the pitch, so that's five people who couldn't come up with the right decision.

"They've told me that they've saw the flick-on and the linesman had no idea who is playing Kelman onside. It's pretty obvious there's no one playing him onside because he's four yards offside.

"I've been managing for 15 years and this is arguably the biggest game of my managerial career with the fact I've not managed this high before, but that's the worst decision I've seen in 15 years.

"I get it's a tough job, but they [officials] are supposed to be the best we've got. If we can't rely on them to make those types of decisions then I don't know what we do.

"This is a multi-million pound industry. It's enormous. The difference between us or Orient being in League One or the Championship next season. We need to have some really obvious conversations on how we move forward."

Despite the nature of their deficit, Stockport demonstrated the resilience that saw them finish the League One campaign in third as they wrestled the tie back in their favour.

Rarmami Edmonds-Green handled in the penalty area and Norwood dispatched the resulting spot-kick emphatically to level the score.

Five minutes later and Stockport were ahead as Norwood turned provider with an inviting free-kick which was headed home by Horsfall.

As the contest ebbed and flowed, the visitors could consider themselves fortunate when the referee waved away appeals for an Orient penalty after Norwood tripped up Kelman in the penalty area on 73 minutes.

But the hosts' late pressure eventually told as a handball in the box from Horsfall enabled on-loan forward Kelman to notch up his second of the game from 12-yards.

Jaquob Crooke

• League One
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