ANGELO Harrop admits seeing his Braintree Town side denied a late penalty in their 1-1 draw at Solihull Moors was hard to take, writes DAVID WARD.

The Iron felt they should have been awarded a spot-kick with 18 minutes remaining of the National League clash at the Armco Arena when lively striker Kyrell Lisbie was blatantly fouled in the area.

The forward had had his legs clearly taken from beneath him as he prepared to slide a low, right wing cross into net.

But referee William Davis waved play on before then rushing to the touchline to book Iron boss Harrop for his protest.

Harrop said: "It was clearly a penalty in anyone's book as Kyrell, who had another outstanding game for us, was so obviously fouled as he was about to put the ball in the back of the net.

(Image: JON WEAVER)

"It was also a crucial period of the game when we were pushing for that important second goal.

"I know you get and have to accept decisions against you in any game but that was such an obvious penalty it was hard to take.

"But in the end we came away with a well deserved solid point against last season's play-off team and I am pleased for our players who at the final whistle were clearly disappointment that they had not collected all three points."

Braintree's fine attacking play paid off after just seven minutes when the tricky Lisbie cut in from the left wing and strode past two defenders before drilling a low shot into the far corner of the net.

(Image: JON WEAVER)

Iron dominated for long periods after that but failed to score again and paid the price, on 81 minutes.

Defender Louie Annesley's mistake allowed Solihull to break clear down their right wing.

And although the first effort was cleared by George Langston, a somewhat fortunate rebound allowed substitute Bradley Stevenson to equalise.

"Even after they did equalise nine minutes from the end with a somewhat fortunate goal we then twice broke completely clear and we should have scored again but we just lost them both with the crucial final shot on their goal," added Harrop.

"So although I am pleased we came away with a point it was frustrating because we played so well.

(Image: JON WEAVER)

"We knew it would be tough to come here and get something from the game but with the momentum we are building after our midweek win and the way the players took the game to their opponents I am disappointed we didn't get all three points.

"At times we had to dig in but you expect that at this high level and I think defensively we did for most of the game but we just dropped our guard a moment when they snatched an equaliser.

"But we have to learn from those situations and I am confident we are now going forward in the right direction."

Next up for Braintree is a home game against Ebbsfleet at the Rare Breed Meat Stadium on Bank Holiday Monday, kick-off 3pm.