ANDY Allardice was left enraged but encouraged after Dudley Town's five-match unbeaten run was halted by Wellington.

The Robins had equalised through Craig Adams but lost 2-1 in Herefordshire courtesy of a controversial penalty verdict by referee Jamie Evans during the closing stages.

But while Allardice had plenty to say on the incident, the manager was quick to praise the performance of a Dudley side that has turned the corner in recent weeks.

"We were a lot better across the two halves," said Allardice. "Lately, we have been a one-half team and we have been trying to get rid of that tag by being more solid for the 90 minutes.

"Our all-round game was better, we dominated after a tricky spell and got back into it at 1-1. Again, the one thing that left us disgruntled was the decision making of the officials.

"I spoke to my staff and said he would give a penalty against us, you could see it coming. They caught us on the break but we had a covering defender who made a cracking challenge but he gave a penalty and booked our keeper who was nowhere near it.

"He had struggled to keep with play because they had broke at such pace. I was left totally frustrated but had to take heart from the commitment shown by the boys, we kept our shape and possession well and Wellington were pleased to see out the game.

"The lads were gutted because we had given everything and were totally on top."

The match marked the senior debut of youth-team graduate Todd Ferrier and a first outing for winger Jovan Blake-Walker, a recent recruit from Cradley.

"Todd had a good hour and did very well for himself," added Allardice. "He did not look out of place one bit and showed quite a few of them how to play football. Jovan was great, he showed a lot of quality as well."

Town host high-flying Wolverhampton Sporting Community on Saturday (3pm).

The News was unable to contact Evans for comment.