Disappointed Lowestoft boss Ady Gallagher criticised referee Joe Hall for costing his side a point against Nuneaton.

The man in black didn't blow for a challenge on centre back Harry Kyprianou in the build-up to the only goal of the match, and Gallagher believes the move should never have been allowed to progress.Instead, the ball made its way across the box to Tom Elliott who gobbled up the chance after finding himself in space – something that may not have happened if Kyprianou was still on his feet.

'I'm a bit aggrieved about the goal because I felt there was a foul in the lead up to it. It's disappointing because other than that we've done okay,' said Gallagher.

'Probably 99 times out of 100, the defender has got his body in there. He's been kicked from behind by the forward and he's clearly pushed him off. He's won everything else all game and it should have been a free-kick.

'The ref says that he's going to look at it, but it's not going to do us any good.'

Despite the scoreline, Gallagher was proud of his team's efforts, especially as it came on the back of a disrupted build-up due to a virus that has swept through the Lowestoft squad.

'There's been an illness in the camp that's left two people at home and two who played today that have recovered sufficiently to put a shirt on,' Gallagher said. 'A lot of our plans were scuppered because of injury and illness. We ended up asking people to play out of position and getting people who played 120 minutes (in the Suffolk Premier Cup) on Tuesday to put another shift in. I can't fault the lads' application though. We had two really good chances in the first half, and two or three in the second. A draw would probably have been a fair result.'

One of the biggest concerns for Gallagher will be the ankle injury top scorer Jake Reed has sustained, which may keep him out for the rest of the campaign. He added: 'He (Reed) could potentially be out for the season. We've also had Shaun Bammant out who's done really well for us in the past two or three games.'

Lowestoft face another big test on Monday afternoon when they take on second placed North Ferriby at Crown Meadow (3pm). The Blues dropped into the relegation zone on Saturday following Brackley's win at Boston and need to win the game to stand a chance of climbing out of it.