Red cards and sin-bins in Rothbury Alliance defeat

“We could have played another 180 minutes and not scored a second goal,” he admitted as the Red’s mis-firing forward line just couldn’t hit the target.

The gaffer described it as a ‘very, very strange game’ as both teams had a man sent off and FC United also saw two men sin-binned.

He was left fuming on the sidelines as the black and whites took an early 6th minute lead when the unmarked Dylan Swan headed home from a free-kick. The Reds felt that the dead ball was a daft one to give away to begin with, and when Swan wasn’t picked up it just added to the sense of frustration. “We just switched off,” admitted Herron.

Rothbury got themselves back into the game and were celebrating on the half hour as skipper Tom Macpherson carried the ball forward and released youngster Harry Felton down the left to fire in his first goal for the club.

FC United were reduced to ten men soon after as a player was dismissed for allegedly throwing a punch and Rothbury dominated as they looked to capitalise on the numerical advantage.

Despite creating chances, the Reds went in behind at half time as Sam Collard headed home when a long throw-in was flicked on to him deep into first half stoppage time.

“It was another soft, soft goal and devastating after missing so many chances and being so on top,” said the boss.

The Reds came out after the interval and pressed hard for a second equaliser. “We created more chances and had so much of the ball, but just couldn’t make it count,” said a frustrated Herron.

FC United were down to nine men for ten minutes when a player was sin-binned for dissent in the 64th minute, but the sides where evened up when he returned to the field as the tough-tackling Kyle Smith received his marching orders despite apparently winning the ball. Smith was left exasperated as the red card was brandished.

“It was such a frustrating game, and awful to watch,” conceded Herron.