Alfold bemoan '˜poor' red card call as Bosham inflict a first defeat in five months

A trip to an in-form Bosham side saw Division 1 pacesetters ‘Fold go down 2-0, losing their first league game since way back on September 23 of last year.

Goals from Callum Coker and Jake Lafferty sealed the success for the Robins, who had recently comfortably beat Westfield and Roffey, and means Alfold now have just a two-point lead over Roffey, who had three games in hand.

The visitors were left feeling aggrieved, however, when goalkeeper Luis Correia was sent off early in the second ball for a handball offence with both the stopper and Alfold adamant it touched no part of his arm.

Alfold assistant manager Jack Munday said: “We knew the title was very unlikely after the draw against Roffey but I think you can pretty much consider it done now.

“Although there was a poor referee decision and we went down to 10 players, I think we could have played the game three times over and still wouldn’t have won, we just were not at our game at all.”

The match started poorly with no football being played on the bobbly uneven surface.

Chances came early for Alfold as Mark Bevan squandered one when through on goal from the left hand side, hitting the ball over. The next was for Kieron Purkis who did well to give himself an effort at the keeper only for it to be saved.

At the other end, a stroke of luck for Bosham after a mix-up down the right-hand side led to a low cross for Correia to gather, but it bobbled up and was dropped right in front of Coker, who tapped home.

Alfold continued to press and it was Bevan who had a similar chance to his previous one, but again shot over.

The second half kicked off and Alfold came out flying as a Bevan cross found Gary Pritchard inside the six yard box, but his header was saved.

Then came the controversy. A long ball from Bosham bounced through to the onrushing Alfold keeper, who chested it down only for the referee to blow for a free kick.

With most of the ground expecting a yellow card, after a few minutes of discussing with players, he produced a red, even though Gavin Fowler was covering around the goalkeeper.

This meant Alfold had to reshuffle with centre-back and assistant manager Jack Munday going in goal for the reminding 40 minutes.

With ten men it was a tall order to get back into the game and Bosham took advantage as Lafferty slotted home to seal the points.

Munday said: “It was in awful conditions but it’s the same for both teams so there is no excuse. We’ve always said if you want to get out of this league and not play on these park pitches then we have to earn it and we just didn’t show our worth.

“We have to pick ourselves up and continue to fight for promotion.

“Next week we visit Sidlesham who other than Roffey are the only other footballing side in the league, so that should be another great game.”

Alfold: Corriea, Fowler (May), Lucas, Familton, Munday, Routley (Sultan), Wragg, Wanstall (Hallett), Bevan, Purkis, Pritchard.