Farnham Town manager Paul Johnson was frustrated with the officials after his side exited the FA Trophy with a 2-1 defeat at home to Flackwell Heath in the first qualifying round.

Harry Cooksley’s goal gave Farnham the lead at The Memorial Ground, but second-half strikes from Michael Harding and Wiktor Makowski sent the visitors through.

Johnson was frustrated with the officials after a foul in the build up to Flackwell Heath’s winning goal, as well as a strong challenge on Cooksley which was only punished with a yellow card. Town’s Lewis Flatman was sent off after leaving the pitch for touching the assistant referee.

“I thought it was a good game,” said Johnson. “It was competitive. They (Flackwell Heath) were a good side. It was a frustrating end to the game. We were in control of the game. We looked comfortable but we were our own biggest fault.

“We should have scored a couple more. They (Flackwell Heath) had a couple of chances but in the second half we were in control – we started it well and maybe should have scored. Then a sloppy pass from Richie Mbele has made it 1-1 and the foul for the second goal was terrible.

“I think both teams will be aggrieved with the officials, but we're more aggrieved with the decisions against us. The foul on Harry is two-footed from behind. He classed it as reckless but gave a yellow card. It's a straight red – you can't go in two-footed from behind.

“The foul for the winning goal was in front of the linesman. Lewis walked into the linesman. I don't know what they saw – I'm still confused.

“It’s frustrating. It was a competitive game, but take nothing away from them (Flackwell Heath) – they competed really well.”

Despite his frustration at the officials and the result, Johnson was able to take plenty of positives from his side’s performance.

“There's loads to take from it,” said Johnson. “I thought we passed the ball really well. We were a little bit sloppy in the final third, but with what we had on the bench the squad is looking good. It was just unfortunate that a sloppy pass and a foul has cost us.

“We needed to be wary of their two up top and get tighter to them. We let them turn too many times. In the last five minutes we put the pressure on them. We had some corners and hit the post a couple of times, but it wasn't to be. We move on.”