Boss Ernie Howe led furious protests to Wiltshire referee David Woolford after Sutton United were denied a clear-cut penalty in the second half of Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Bromley.

Trailing to Gareth Williams' 40th-minute goal, Untied were left fuming 17 minutes from time after Sutton's top scorer Craig Dundas had been hauled down in the box by Bromley keeper Andy Walker.

The chance to equalise would have been reward for an improved second performance from Sutton, who had been kept in contention by a series of fine saves by keeper Phil Wilson.

But the grim fact for United, who remain rooted to the bottom of Blue Square South, is that they did not manage a single goal attempt on target during the 90 minutes.

Wilson's first save, in the seventh minute, was possibly the best - keeping out Williams' close-range shot after Danny Hockton had headed a right wing centre across goal.

Seven minutes later, Wilson was caught out when Simon Osborn's long pass held up in the wind and didn't reach the penalty. The keeper collided with a home striker on the edge of the penalty area, but scrambled back to catch Sam Wood's lob under the crossbar.

Wood's impressive forays down the left provided good support to the strike trio of Hockton, Williams and Nic McDonnell.

The chances kept coming for the home side as Wilson diverted Hockton's low shot wide with his feet, and was then helped out by Tom Hughes, who cleared Wood's shot off the line after Wilson had failed to collect a right-wing cross.

The pressure had to produce a goal, and sure enough Bromley's next attack provided the breakthrough.

McDonnell's through ball was controlled well by Williams before he clipped a shot in to the top corner, with Wilson this time helpless.

Sutton were relieved to hear the half time whistle with no further damage, and with Dundas receiving more support after the break they gave the home defence more to think about.

They finally had a shot worthy of the description on 57 minutes, Harry Ottaway's volley fizzing just over after Simon Glover had headed out weakly following a scramble as Liam Wright and Bashiru Alimi tried to convert a Paul Honey cross.

Ottaway tried his luck again from the edge of the area soon afterwards, a low shot going just wide.

In between, Wilson had again come to Sutton's rescue when Hockton broke clear, blocking the striker's low shot.

In contrast to Wilson, Andy Walker had had little to do, but 17 minutes from the end he was a pivotal figure.

Having received a back pass, he decided to try and take the ball around the challenging Dundas, who had won the duel comfortably when Walker hauled him to the ground.

Despite having perfect views, both Mr Woolford and his assistant Kevin Theobald saw nothing wrong and waved play on to the disbelief of Sutton's players and supporters.

Although Tom Hughes did send a header over from a free kick it was to be the closest United came to salvaging a point.

The home side looked every bit as likely to score in the last ten minutes as Wood shot wastefully wide from Hockton's pass and McDonnell was denied twice, first by Alan Bray's superb intervention as he tried to turn in a Williams cross at the far post and then by Wilson's athleticism as he turned away a 25-yard shot that was heading for the top corner.

Bromley: A Walker, M Corneille, S Wood, S Glover, B Judge, S Clark, L I'Anson(sub N Smith 65), S Osborn(sub W Wilson 76), D Hockton, N McDonnell, G Williams. Subs n/u B Bowry, T Henriques, D Parnham. Goal: Williams(40)

Sutton: P Wilson, D Sammut(sub J Scarborough 87), A Bray, T Hughes, K El-Salahi, B Alimi, R Hughes, P Honey(sub L Maskell 85), H Ottaway, C Dundas, L Wright(sub J Henry 72). Subs n/u J Haverson, K Davies.Referee: D Woolford(Amesbury)Attendance: 648