THE question of injury time reared its ugly head as Poole Town were denied a valuable three points by a controversial Petersfield equaliser deep into added time.

Referee Mr Saxby chose to add four minutes at the end of the game and in the third of those minutes, a questionable free-kick was awarded on the edge of the box.

Striker Guy Madjo struck his effort against the woodwork but Adam Fawcett was in the right place to tap in the rebound with virtually the last kick of the game.

It was rough justice, not least because Dolphins had dominated throughout with goalkeeper Kevin Scriven a virtual spectator throughout.

But they failed to build on the lead given to them by Gary Funnell on the half-hour, thanks in the main to the inspired form of visiting keeper Lloyd Patilla.

However, the result does little for Petersfield's hopes of gaining ground on Poole in second but as manager Tommy Killick admitted after the game, that was of little comfort after the late, late blow.

"It almost felt as if we'd lost after conceding a goal like that," lamented Killick. "If you had offered me a point before the game, I might well have taken it as it would have kept them at arm's length.

"But it was frustrating to have played so well and be denied. It was a better result for us than them although it does open the door slightly for some of the other sides behind us.

"Where the referee found all the added time from when there was no injuries I don't know.

"It was a nothing free-kick from which they scored too.

"I can't really blame the players as they did perform but their goalkeeper was brilliant and two of his saves in particular were way above this level of football.

"We had kept four clean sheets in a row before the game and again restricted one of the better sides in the division to virtually no shots so that's encouraging."

Funnell put the hosts ahead with a trademark free-kick from 20 yards, the midfielder's 23rd strike of a prolific season.

But Patilla superbly denied Anthony Warrington and two efforts were miraculously cleared off the line as the visitors survived by the skin of their teeth before their last-ditch equaliser.

Poole Town: Scriven, Cornick, Spalding, Manning, Bartlett, Woolfenden, Richardson, Funnell, White, Collins, Chivers (Warrington 70). Unused subs: Cherrett, Sturgess.