A CONTROVERSIAL fourth goal sapped the life out of Shrivenham at Windsor on Saturday as Gareth Davies’ side slipped to a momentum-killing 4-2 loss.

Windsor struck two goals in as many minutes inside the game’s final 10 as Shrivenham surrendered their earlier goal advantage to leave Berkshire pointless despite dominating large parts of play.

But the hosts’ fourth goal in particular gave Shrivvy boss Davies cause for frustration.

A clash of heads left ex-Swindon Supermarine defender Macauley Dodson with a nasty cut to his head, which had to be treated in the aftermath of Windsor’s match-winning strike.

Davies insists the game should’ve been paused in order to Dodson to receive necessary treatment, but play instead was waved on – allowing the home side to confirm all three points.

Davies said: “Macauley Dodson has got quite a bad head injury.

“We shouldn’t switch off, but the management team were on the pitch straight away – even while the game was going on.

“He eye was smashed to bits, and there was blood all over his face – but the referee waved play on. And Windsor scored from it.

“We should’ve carried on, but we were all concerned. The referee apologised after, and I can’t blame the officials.

“But it was disappointing.”

Putting the game’s late incident aside, Davies knows Shrivenham should’ve taken their earlier chances and can only blame themselves for leaving the weekend pointless.

Nine points have now been secured from Shrivvy’s opening seven games – a record the manager wants to build on with another fortnight left until the club’s next Hellenic Premier Division tie.

Davies added: “We made a mistake early on, and it cost us a goal.

“After that, we dominated the first half. Windsor have a great pitch, and it allowed us to play football.

“We did really well and got ourselves back into the game for half-time. We outplayed them in the first half, and it was the same for a quarter-of-an-hour in the second half.

“At 2-1 up, I thought we’d close the game off and come away with three points. But we switched off a bit.

“I think we thought we had the game won. Windsor got themselves back into the game and were then on the front foot.

“We didn’t do things well enough.”

Elsewhere in the Hellenic Premier Division, Royal Wootton Bassett’s poor run continued as they lost 3-1 at home to Virginia Water.

Paul Burrows netted a brace for Water, before impact substitute Martin Peters rounded off the visitors scoring on 84 minutes.