Nine men prevail​ as Sleaford lose to leaders

​Sleaford Town crashed to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of United Counties League Premier Division North league leaders Sherwood Colliery on Saturday afternoon – despite playing more than half-an-hour against nine-men.
By Ollie Atkin
Published 18th Dec 2023, 13:45 GMT
Updated 18th Dec 2023, 13:45 GMT
Tom Ward goes up for a header against Sherwood. Photo: Steve W Davies Photography.Tom Ward goes up for a header against Sherwood. Photo: Steve W Davies Photography.
Tom Ward goes up for a header against Sherwood. Photo: Steve W Davies Photography.

​The game looked to have tipped in the Greens’ favour when Jamie York and Carter Widdowson were dismissed within two minutes of each other midway through the second half, but the Greens were unable to take advantage and ultimately shipped goals from Ewan Robson and Bradley Wells to slip to a frustrating defeat.

York was the first to see his marching orders for a stamp on Lewis Daff before Carter Widdowson followed him down the tunnel just two minutes later when he flattened Akeel Francis with a high lunge.

That was all too much for Sherwood manager Wayne Savage to take and his frustrations boiled over when he was dismissed from the touchline a few minutes later and the Greens looked odd-on for a positive result.

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That was not to be the case though and things began to go downhill when Charlie Ward was adjudged to have hauled Jake Wright down in the box on 82 minutes and Robson stepped up to coolly dispatch beyond Liam Flitton.

Then, with the Greens advancing, they were hit with the sucker-punch on the break when Wells swept a fine effort into the far corner to condemn the Greens to an eighth league defeat of the campaign.

Sleaford’s joint player-boss Tom Ward said: “It was very frustrating. For 60 minutes we did what we planned to do which was to frustrate them and I don’t think Liam Flitton’s had a save to make.

"I felt it started to look like we’d have a chance of coming away with a 1-0 win but then things changed with the red card and we tried to be more positive with the ball, then we had a soft penalty given against us and we’re hurting.

"We’ve then gone full hog for the last five minutes, throwing bodies forward, and they’ve pinched one right at the end.

"So it’s frustrating not to have come away with anything from a game where I felt we were good for a minimum 0-0.”

The Greens will now look forward to their final United Counties League Premier Division North contest before Christmas when they travel to face Skegness Town at the Vertigo Stadium next Saturday afternoon

Related topics:SleafordNorthSherwood Colliery