MANAGER Gareth Horner, pictured, admits the title race is “out of our hands” after his ten-man Amesbury Town tripped up on the Isle of Wight.

Third-placed Blues are now chasing a seven-point gap that Team Solent store at the top of Wessex Division One following a 2-1 defeat to Cowes Sports.

Craig Wheeler was on target for the visitors but goals from Ryan Gregory and John McKie confirmed the verdict and, to make matters worse, defender Matt Cox was sent off.

“In fairness we could have been one up inside thirty seconds but after that for the rest of the first half we were subject to some strange decisions,” reflected Horner, whose side had shaken the table-toppers the weekend before.

“It's never an excuse and we weren't good enough on the day but their penalty was extremely dubious and we had two clear cut penalty decisions missed.

“When we are being told our forwards are offside from a goal kick you sort of just have to laugh at it!”

“It's a difficult place to go at the best of times and it's a long old day.

“The lads were well prepared and you can see why they were frustrated with the officials but they didn't cost us the game themselves.

“With the other results it's now out of our hands but we will keep competing and hope to still be within a shout come the end of May.”

The Blues have two more away trips on the diary.

They look to mount the pressure on the top two when they travel to Andover New Street on Saturday (3pm) and then Hythe and Dibden on Tuesday (7.45pm).