​Controversy continued to reign long after the final whistle at Twerton Park this afternoon as the management teams of Bath City and Thurrock argued over whether Darren Edwards’ first-half goal should have stood.

Edwards’ 38th-minute effort separated the play-off rivals and saw City climb to third in the Blue Square South table.

But it came after Kaid Mohamed, who was in an offside position, left the ball for his strike partner.

City assistant manager Lee Howells was certain referee Lee Collings got it right.

“For me its a simple one,” he said. “You work on your back four and you encourage them to squeeze up.

“Kaid was running back, he wasn’t interfering with play and Darren has made a good run through to score.”

However visiting manager Hakan Hayrettin saw it differently.

He said: “I thought the Bath player was offside and attempted to go for the ball and only then has he turned back.

“In my reading of the laws of the game he should have been given offside and the goal disallowed.”

Despite the disputed goal Hayrettin was full of praise for a City side whose last defeat was some 10 games ago at Thurrock back in early January.

“I knew we were going to come here and it would be a difficult game,” Hayrettin admitted.

“Bath were certainly the better team in the first half and that’s when we lost it. They wanted it more, we were always on the back foot and never got out of first gear.”

Howells, meanwhile, commented that the result has given his team a bit of a breathing space with further difficult fixtures at Eastleigh and Hampton & Richmond up ahead.

He said: “We have now put ourselves in a really good position to get into the play-offs.

“We said to the players if we can get a few wins under our belt now, it means later on we don’t have to win every match.

“We had a good result last week at Welling and then again today. We can now have a good week’s rest and get ready to face Eastleigh.”

Listen to Bath City assistant boss Lee Howells' view of the game here and Thurrock manager Hakan Hayrettin's post-match interview here