What EFL officials have now told Dave Challinor after the ‘worst decision’ made in Leyton Orient vs Stockport County

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A pulsating play-off semi-final tie was played out between Leyton Orient and Stockport County on May 10.

After Birmingham City clinched the League One title at a record-breaking pace and Wrexham won a historic promotion to the Championship, the third and final spot was up for grabs as we entered the play-offs.

Leyton Orient and Stockport County were two of the teams battling for a place in the second-tier, with both sides playing out a classic at Brisbane Road.

Orient controversially took the lead through Charlie Kelman, who was clearly in an offside position when he dispatched his chance, before the visitors fought back in the second period through Oliver Norwood and Fraser Horsfall.

Kelman then fired home a penalty late on to ensure the spoils were shared in a frenetic contest, with Dave Challinor now stating what the officials told him after one horrific call was made.

• READ MORE: Former EFL boss slams referee over ‘horrendous’ decision in Leyton Orient vs Stockport County thriller

What EFL officials told Dave Challinor after Charlie Kelman’s goal

“I probably don’t need to say anything because it’s clearly obvious,” Challinor said post-match via BBC Sport.

“The problem for me comes in the process of what they’ve gone through because there will be loads of subjective decisions on a football pitch where I don’t think it was a penalty, they might think it was a penalty. All them bits.

“That’s plain and clearly four yards offside. Now there could be an argument that says we don’t know whether their player flicked it on.

“There’s five people [officials] here and they couldn’t come up with the right decision. They’ve told me they saw the flick on and the linesman has no idea who is playing Kelman onside. Well it’s pretty obvious, he’s four yards offside.

“This is arguably the biggest game in my managerial career, that’s the worst decision I’ve seen in 15 years.”

The officials told Challinor that they couldn’t tell who was playing Kelman onside when he was miles off, making the decision even more baffling.

• READ MORE: Leyton Orient’s Charlie Kelman shares instant reaction to his offside goal vs Stockport County, ‘got to sell it’

Challinor’s verdict on Stockport County’s performance

It was a tough pill to swallow when Kelman’s goal wrongfully stood, as it happened at a point in the game when Stockport were on top.

But in his post-match comments, Challinor credited his players for reacting in the manner they did, producing an excellent comeback instead of letting it take the wind out of their sails.

“Super proud of my players. Massive, massive credit to them for reacting in the manner they did with such an injustice in the first half to go and perform as they did in the second half,” he said.

“Like I say, when you get to these games, you want them to go and show what they can do in every aspect in terms of tactical stuff, but in terms of that mentality, they’ve showed that really well, so super proud of them.”

A 2-2 draw means this League One play-off semi-final is perfectly poised for another frantic second leg, in which Stockport will hope to prevail on top and reach Wembley.