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Dennis Kutrieb was adamant Ebbsfleet should have had a penalty in their derby draw with Maidstone.
Referee Isaac Searle waved away appeals after Noah Chesmain slid in on Adam Mekki during the second half of last night’s National South game.
The Fleet boss protested at the time and a video of the incident reinforced his initial opinion.
“I watched the video and it’s a penalty,” said Kutrieb.
“So, for me, it’s unbelievable, the linesman is 10 yards away, he has only to look at the situation, he didn’t see it and the ref, I don’t know where he was.
“It frustrates me because it’s a tough game, it’s a close game and sometimes you need a penalty to win the game.”
Had Searle been the type to let things go, then Kutrieb would have had no argument.
But having seen free-kicks awarded elsewhere on the pitch for minimal contact, he felt Searle had to give the penalty.
Kutrieb, who was hoping to show Searle the footage, said: “He gave a free-kick for small things every time, so I am fine with it, but then you have to give it in the penalty area as well.
“And that’s what I want to say because when you have a referee who gives nothing, lets the game go and didn’t give any fouls, I’m fine.
“Today, he gave every small foul, then I’m fine with it, but then you have to give this penalty as well.”
Searle went on to have a word with Kutrieb on the touchline after he questioned a free-kick award.
The Fleet manager added: “He only asked me to be a little bit more quiet now because it’s only 10 minutes to go and together we will get the game over and he didn’t have to send me out.”
Neither side could break the deadlock at Stonebridge Road, with Ebbsfleet dropping a place to sixth and Maidstone a point back in seventh.
“We knew it would be a tough game for us,” said Kutrieb.
“They are next to us in the table so we talked before that we didn’t get many chances and the chances we get, we have to score.
"We had a really big one in the first half with Rakish (Bingham), second half one more as well.
"So we had two big chances we have to score when you want to win such a top game and a derby.
“The performance was OK, it was not bad, and the positive is we didn’t concede a goal, so I’m fine with it.
“But we have to have more determination when we get chances to score, that you want to score a goal with all you have. We have to get better.”
