A DODGY refereeing decision was enough to break English hearts as the brave team from Westinghouse Brakes were knocked out of a mini World Cup tournament in Germany last weekend.

The Chippehmam firm's workers only lost one game in five matches, but were unable to progress into the final stages of the competition because they drew to many games.

It was organised by German company Knorr-Bremse, which owns a web of smaller companies across Europe, including Westinghouse Brakes.

There were two Hungarian teams, two German teams, a Czech team and an English side, represented by Westinghouse Brakes.

The English team clashed with archrivals Germany, the favourites to win the cup, in the first game of the group stages.

Before the match the German team brought a towel onto the pitch with the score of England's celebrated 5-1 victory against the German national team in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers.

Westinghouse Brakes team organiser Tim Spear said the game was tight with few chances, but with five minutes left the German goalkeeper denied them a winner with a breathtaking save. At the end the German players then brought the towel back onto the pitch and crossed out the 5-1 score line with a marker pen and replaced it with 0-0.

A 2-1 defeat against the Czech team, a 1-1 draw with the German second team and a 2-1 victory against the Hungarian second team meant the English team had to beat the Hungarian first team to go through.

But the match started disastrously when the English conceded a controversial goal in the first two minutes.

The ball was clearly seen to hit a Hungarian player's hand and another player smashed the ball into the English goal. The German referee, who later apologised for his decision, gave the goal.

Then a Hungarian defender dragged down an English player as he controlled the ball on his chest inside the Hungarian team's box. The English team picked up the ball and placed it on the penalty spot, but the referee rinsisted it was an indirect free kick.

The Hungarians went on to beatGermany 3-0 in the final.

Spear insisted the players were not at bitter and the 20-man squad thoroughly enjoyed the experience. "The referee wasn't cheating, he just genuinely didn't know the rules," he said.

"Another time we could have gone on and won it. I was worried before we left England, but once we got here and saw all the other sides I thought we had a good chance.

"But I think we won a lot of respect for the way we conducted ourselves on and off the pitch because sometimes the reputation of English football is not so good in Europe."