PERSHORE Town manager Danny Janes was left furious with referee Joshua Brookland at full-time following his side's 3-2 defeat to Clanfield 85 last weekend.

It was Janes' the first taste of defeat since taking over as boss in November and came after the incredible penalty shootout win over Bromsgrove Sporting on Tuesday, a result that saw Pershore reach the semi-finals of the Worcestershire FA Senior Cup.

Pershore had taken the lead through Roland Krol's 19th minute goal but the visitors equalised before the break.

The Plums' boss believes his side were denied a free-kick by Brookland in the build-up to Clanfield taking the lead in the second half, a decision Janes felt changed the complexion of the game.

"The result is tough to take after the highs of Tuesday," he said

"We spoke about how fast football can change and how it would hurt if we didn’t deliver today. The result was nothing to do with the players being on a high from Tuesday, they worked hard and they wanted to desperately win the game but we just lacked quality all over the pitch at times.

"Second half I thought we started a lot better and we looked comfortable, although we weren’t creating too many clear chances, I thought we really started to grow into the game.

"The referee then makes an embarrassing a decision by not giving a free-kick that leads to Clanfield taking the lead. It’s ironic that I spoke to him at half-time about his first half performance as I thought he was so poor, and then he fails to give a clear free-kick which changes the complexion of the game.

"I spoke very professionally to him and acknowledged that his job is so difficult, but when you are being paid to do a job there must be an element of accountability. I understand mistakes will be made, but this was blatant."

Play-off rivals Clanfield then extended that lead later in the second-half to make it 3-1 before Thomas Mills ' consolation gave hope late on.

But it wasn't to be anything more and despite his anger at the refereeing display, Janes admitted his side were not worthy of anything on the day.

"I don’t want to take anything away from Clanfield in terms of the crucial referee decision as we simply were not good enough," he added.

"Clanfield took their chances and defended very well. You can’t concede three goals and expect to win a game of football, we were no where near good enough in the final third, their back four had a very easy day.

"The result really impacts our push now. It’s hard to criticise the players as they have been fantastic and won six games on the bounce. But I can’t accept average performances like I saw today. We now have 10 cup finals in the league to try and get as close we can to that top five."

The result leaves Pershore in ninth position in the Hellenic League Division One table, seven points off fifth placed FC Stratford.

They are back in action this weekend when third-placed Cheltenham Saracens come to town.