BASHLEY were left to rue a penalty that wasn't given as league leaders Horsham held them to a draw at the Recreation Ground.

Steve Riley's side were already 1-0 in front through Dave Wakefield's powerful 16th-minute header from Andy Culliford's cross when Jimmy Anderson was brought down inside the box shortly afterwards.

But with the Bashley faithful baying for a spot kick, the referee waved play on.

And from the breakaway Horsham equalised with a 30-yard screamer from Gary Charman that flew into the top corner.

Riley, whose side stretched their unbeaten run to four games, said: "We had them under pressure inside their own box when their centre half goes straight through on Jimmy from behind.

"Everyone thinks it's a penalty, even the linesman who said the referee was so close to the incident that he didn't bother to put his flag up even though he thought it was a penalty. Unfortunately for us, the ref said he didn't see it even though Jimmy was down injured.

"They wouldn't put the ball out of play and then their striker hits a world class strike from 30 yards that gave Stacey Harper no chance.

"That was a killer.

"We picked ourselves up and Richard Gillespie had three or four chances but we couldn't put away what we had created.

"Horsham caused us trouble in the last five minutes with a few set pieces and Stacey made a couple of great saves to keep us in it.

"It would have been an injustice if they had scored at that stage, though, because we just didn't deserve to lose."

Riley, whose side are 13th in the table, only three points adrift of seventh, added: "We would have taken a point before the game bearing in mind where Horsham are in the table.

"On reflection, though, we are disappointed. We were buzzing in the changing room after the game even though we didn't get the three points. We created a lot of chances, especially for Richard, but we just couldn't put the ball into the net more than once.

"It's four games unbeaten though, three draws and one win. I like to set targets and four games ago, before our match against Hastings, I said to the players that our next five games up to and including Boxing Day would be crucial.

"I said I wanted eight or nine points and then I asked the players what they thought. They said nine, so I said that would be the target.

"We are on six at the moment and have one game to go, at Lymington and New Milton on Boxing Day. And if we play like we did against Horsham, we won't be far off it."

Striker Danny Gibbons linked up well with Gillespie on his return to Bashley from Brockenhurst.

Bashley: Harper, Gazzard, Parnell, Thomas, Riley, Wakefield, Preston (Rinke 75), Culliford, Anderson, Gibbons, Gillespie. Unused subs: Saunders, Elm, Lorimer, Kabir.