CALNE'S promotion hopes took a serious knock on Saturday after angry boss Kelvin Highmore accused Elmore of cheating his side out of a result.

The manager feels Tom Barrow dived to earn his side the crucial winning penalty. "No one touched him," he said.

"It was a blatant dive and the ref fell for it. But you have to live with decisions and move on."

With league leaders Willand winning their third straight game at Clevedon, the Wiltshire side's promotion challenge is dwindling.

Highmore, who needs a top two finish to reach the Premier Division, added: "Everything this season has been geared towards promotion but we will not be giving up yet.

"There is still a lot of football to be played."

With top scorer Glenn Armstrong missing with the mumps, Highmore feels his team need to find the scoring touch quickly before their promotion campaign fails.

"We have to start scoring goals again. We just can't put it in the back of the net, the goals are drying up at the wrong time.

"We defended brilliantly, and apart from the penalty they only had one shot on goal."

Highmore is hoping Armstrong will be back in time for Calne's match at Saltash on Sunday.

"I'm not particularly happy with their choice of day for the match. They are borrowing players from the South West Counties League and we will not know what side they are likely to put out.

"It will be a difficult fixture and one we must win."

Calne dominated the match against tenth place Elmore and should have taken the lead in the 11th minute when the Pratley brothers linked up.

Striker and younger sibling Matt took a long throw that found his brother, Ryan, on the edge of the box but his shot flew inches wide.

Elmore's only attempt on the Calne goal came late in the first half when Russell King's long range shot was well saved by visiting keeper Robbie Lardner.

The sucker punch was landed in the 72nd minute when Barrow was surrounded by three Calne players just inside the area.

He tumbled to the ground and the referee pointed to the spot. Both Pratley brothers were both booked for taking their protests too far and striker Perry Carpenter gleefully converted to gift his team all three points.

Calne attacked relentlessly in search of an equaliser and in the dying minutes they had their best opportunity when the younger Pratley hit the woodwork but Ben Moore hit the rebound wide.