Nostell would have won with 11 men

Toolstation NCEL Division One

Nostell Miners Welfare joint manager Simon Houghton

Revitalised Nostell Miners Welfare would have beaten Eccleshill United with eleven men on-the-field, according to Simon Houghton.

The controversial first half sending off of young starlet Liam Owen gave Nostell a mountain to climb. His brother Jack did then give Nostell the lead, but as the second half progressed, Houghton and Jason Dodsworth’s men tired.

A late penalty, converted by Luke Harrop, eventually won the contest for Eccleshill – a week on since the reverse contest which finished 3-3.

Lee Swift also saw red after the award of the penalty for dissent and Houghton admitted that his players got wound up with the referee.

“I think we got frustrated with the officials,” Houghton told Non League Yorkshire.

“It is not so much this week, it is last week (at Eccleshill) as well because the officials were poor then as well.

“The officials have given us nothing again today.

“The first red card was stupid, I can’t defend Liam. He made it easy for the referee. He has to learn from that and he knows it. He’s apologised.

“We keep eleven players on that field, we win that game. You can see why they are up there, but we have more than matched them. I think they’re over the moon to get four points from us over Christmas.

“When Liam got sent off, we had to adjust accordingly, but we really tired.

“I thought it was a soft penalty, but I had a feeling that he’d want to give it because there had been incident earlier on when they were shouting for handball.

“I don’t know what Swifty said to the referee, but you’re not going to win that one.

“It was harsh on the lads in the end because they have been honest, worked and given us everything.

“But we have a great bunch and if we play like we have been and keep eleven men on the field, we’ll pick up wins.”

Although Houghton did not directly blame referee Will Cavanagh for the defeat, he did agree that the officials’ fouls-to-cards ratio was way too high.

“The first booking with Dan Collins in the ninth minute, he stuck out a knee and the referee has proceeded to book him,” he said.

“I said to the referee that ‘you’re making a rod for your own back by booking someone for just that because everything else is going to be a yellow’.

“There was no malice in the game. It was two teams going for it hammer and tong, wanting to win the game in a fair way. But we end up with loads of yellow cards.”