With the score at 1-0 following Ollie Hughes' goal six minutes into the second half, Aveley thought they had equalised through Nathan Koranteng's effort off the underside of the bar.

Instead, the goal was ruled out when the linesman on the far side adjudged Kyle Asante to have been in an offside position impeding Alex Archer's vision in the Sudbury goal when the strike came in.

It was yet another refereeing decision that had gone against Aveley this season and it came at a pivotal point in the match with half an hour still to play and the momentum swinging towards the Millers.

Instead Sudbury went on to wrap up the points when Ryan Henshaw got on the end of a deflected cross from the Sudbury left to tap home the second against a tired and patched up Millers side.

With this being Aveley’s fourth game of the week and third back to back on the road, it had been a tiring week for Gardner’s side, with Gardner forced to make more changes to his starting 11 following Thursday’s draw with Waltham Abbey.

Jay Leader was unable to recover from an ankle problem picked up on Thursday and was replaced at centre-half by Brian Okwera.

Goalkeeper Kalin Artakiev was suffering a knee problem so was replaced by Ronnie Worster in goal, Adeyinka Cole dropped to the bench to be replaced by Nathan Koranteng and Lee Weemes replaced Paul Burnett.

But despite the patched-up side that Gardner threw out it was the team in red who created the first opportunity in the outskirts of Suffolk, when a low cross from Koranteng towards the near post almost found Lee Weemes before being cleared by Jack Cawley.

The Ryman League Cup finalists were in the midst of a tough week themselves having also played three matches prior to the visit of Aveley, including their cup final defeat to Maidstone on Tuesday night.

Though it was Aveley who were continuing to look the fresher early on with Kyle Asante thinking he should have done better when he was picked out by Okwera with his first effort blocked and second effort scaling the crossbar.

Much like the most recent games Aveley had been involved in the first half was one of few chances for either side, and the two went into the break on even terms after Michael Begg gave away a free kick for a foul on Payton Swatman.

Sudbury’s captain, Michael Shinn stepped up to take the set piece but was unable to get it under the bar giving Worster a relatively quiet introduction back into first team football having not played competitively for almost two years.

The second half started much the same as the first with Aveley creating the first chances of the half.

Asante got the wrong side of two Sudbury defenders after a clipped ball over the top from Begg was perfectly weighted into his path. But the Millers’ leading goal-scorer was unable to hit the target as he dragged his effort just wide of Alex Archers’ far post.

In all competitions Aveley have scored 84 goals this season, with 29 different goal-scorers. Yet there have been plenty of moments this season where they had not been clinical enough in front of goal.

Sudbury on the other hand were clinical and they took the lead six minutes into the second half with their first real attempt on target.

Picking the ball up on the right hand side, Shinn floated the ball towards the far post picking out the run of Ollie Hughes perfectly leaving him with the chance to head past Worster and give the home side the lead.

The game’s opener put the home side on the front foot and they almost doubled their advantage shortly after taking the lead when the ball fell to Hughes who sliced his effort towards the far post just out of the reach of Ryan Henshaw.

But then came the moment that Aveley thought they had gotten themselves back into the match when Koranteng had the ball in the back of the net, only for it to be ruled out.

Neat passing play between Weemes and Koranteng found the winger in a shooting position and from the edge of the area the Aveley number 11 lashed the ball in off the underside of the bar.

As Koranteng was wheeling away to celebrate the linesman’s flag was raised and the goal was ruled out because Asante was considered to have been in the goalkeeper’s line of vision when the shot was made and was in an active offside position as a result.

The video however shows that Asante is standing about two feet to the right of Archer and not directly in the goalkeeper’s way when the shot comes in.

Gardner, naturally, was livid and after interrogating the linesman he couldn’t confirm who it was in an offside position, just “someone in red” – either way the goal didn’t stand at the Millers were back to square one.

It proved to be a vital decision at a pivotal point in the match as an equaliser would have swung the momentum back in the favour of the away side but instead Sudbury’s lead was intact.

There was still plenty of time left in the contest, but Sudbury almost killed off any hope Aveley had of getting back into it when James Forshaw was clean through on goal only to have Worster block his shot and hold onto the ball.

Adetayo Osifuwa then had a chance fall to him after he had bombed down the right, but his low effort was parried by Archer before Mathias Bakare played in a devilish ball across the face of goal that Weemes couldn’t quite reach at the far post.

They were chances that Aveley would regret to miss as Sudbury scored their second and all but wrapped up the three points which came with a hint of fortune.

A low cross from Hughes on the left took a wicked deflection off the head of Glen Golby, making the ball loop perfectly into the run of Henshaw who had the easy task of tapping in from close range to secure the points for the home side.

Although there was still a good 20 minutes left in the match, the Millers were unable to muster a clear goal-scoring opportunity, with the best chance of the final stages falling to Henshaw whose free header from a corner went over the bar.

“I have to laugh, because if I don’t laugh I’ll cry” said the Millers boss at full time about the decision to disallow Nathan Koranteng’s goal.

“I’m just hoping that all my bad luck is used up this season and that next season I have the most luck in the world.

“He (linesman) said he ‘thinks’ there was a red shirt. Thinks – those were his exact words.

“He said there was a red shirt in front of the goalkeeper so I asked him what number it was and he said “Im not too sure.”

“I asked the ref, the ref didn’t know, then I walked off and one of the players said it was the seven (Kyle Asante) and then the linesman told me number nine (Lee Weemes) so I’m confused, but from where I looked it was a woeful decision.”

Aveley: Ronnie Worster, Adetayo Osifuwa, Karl Blake, Brian Okwera, Glen Golby, Mathias Bakare, Kyle Asante (Charlie Stevenson 80’), Billy Holland (c) (Adeyinka Cole 74’), Lee Weemes, Nathan Koranteng, Michael Begg (Oyetunji Oyewale 85’)