Stansfeld/Eltham Palace boss Lloyd Bradley blasted the referee for controversially sending off goalkeeper James Bradley in his side’s defeat to Glebe at the weekend, writes John Kelly…
The home side were already a goal down when Bradley was shown a second yellow card in the 44th minute despite appearing to win the ball as Andres Felipe Losada Tobon threatened to add a second.
Glebe missed the resulting penalty – after midfielder Harry gamble had gone in goal – but scored twice after the break to seal a Southern Counties East Football League First Division win and leave Bradley fuming.
He said: “I’m really disappointed, but very proud of my players having gone down to ten men in the first half and already one-nil down. It’s very disappointing but I (told) the players how proud I was tonight. I think they’ve been superb really to keep going, especially when we conceded two early goals in the second half. It was really difficult but so easy for us to throw the towel in at that point.
“I’m proud of the performance but disappointed with the decisions by the referee tonight. I don’t think he helped at all. The referee looked a little bit out of his depth.”
“It’s a shocking decision from my point of view. The fact he’s given a penalty…he was a long way from play, he didn’t take any guidance from the linesman. It would’ve been wise of him to take a breath and ask the linesman if he thought it was something there, but the keeper had the ball in his hand.
“There wasn’t really an appeal from even the sideline, let alone the players on the park. It’s such a bad decision and such a crucial decision at that particular moment in time.
“James is foolish to get booked in the first place but to get a second yellow when it’s not even a foul and to give a penalty as well to boot, that is a major, major bad decision.”
Stansfeld/Eltham Palace remain in the bottom five in the table after collecting sixteen points from as many games.
Stansfeld 1st team’s game at top-of-the-table Peckham Town was abandoned at the weekend, while the Reserves lost 6-2 at home to Long Lane, with Harry Gamble and Freddie Hamlin on the scoresheet.