Wisborough Green suffer heavy defeat in game 'ruined' by early red card

After a solid showing in a 0-0 draw with Cowfold, the visitors were looking to build on that, but it was was made almost impossible as two quickfire bookings saw Luke Braizer sent off.

A penalty soon followed and the hosts’ quick counter-attack proved troublesome for the visitors, whose day to forget was compounded by some defensive and goalkeeping errors.

Wisborough Green get season underway with hard-earned point

The game-changing moment came after just five minutes, Braizer was deemed to kick the ball away as he swung a boot at a ball that had only just crossed the line for a throw-in. He was cautioned for time-wasting.

Ten minutes later, Braizer stepped across an attacker and was booked for the collision and hurriedly shown a red card.

Wisborough did almost lead despite the early set-back as Tom Cotterill stood the ball up to the far post and Callum Price headed narrowly over. Soon after a rash tackle from Eric Geddes saw the hosts awarded a penalty which was put away and they made it 2-0 ahead of the break after a smart finish from the corner of the box.

Ewhurst made it 3-0 shortly into the second half to kill off any Wisborough hopes. The visitors also played ten minutes of the second half due to a yellow card and sin bin for captain Tom Mapstone, who voiced his frustration as the referee overruled the Ewhurst linesman and gave a throw the wrong way. Leon Kilford then let a catch slip out of his grasp and it flew up onto the inside of the post and in, before a mix-up at the back gifted the hosts a fifth.

Wisborough joint manager Ollie Berry said: “It’s such a shame that a potentially decent game of football was ruined so early on. I cannot believe an attempt for the ball which had only just gone out was deemed as kicking the ball away. After just five minutes, even if the referee had thought that was the case, surely a word with the player would have sufficed and been the sensible option.

“The booking for the collision soon after could also be debated, it seemed ridiculous that we had a red card after about 15 minutes when not even a bad tackle had been made. It's ironic that the same player sent off for us was on the end of a potential leg breaker last week which was deemed just a booking!

“We had a couple of half chances after that, but it killed us to be honest. Credit to Ewhurst who went on to seal a convincing and deserved win. They were a decent bunch and it’s a shame we couldn’t give them more of a game, although a quirk of the fixtures can soon see us try to put that right as we now host them again on Saturday.”