Pinchbeck United 3
Eynesbury Rovers 0
Ian Dunn praised his Pinchbeck United players for keeping their heads after seeing off eight-man Eynesbury Rovers in a game he dubbed “very strange” on Saturday.
Rovers had Danny Draper (12), Matt Clifford (13) and Curtis Hartley (55) all sent off in the Future Lions UCL Premier Division clash at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field, as well as picking up a host of bookings.
Pinchbeck, who have had disciplinary problems of their own this season, won the game thanks to strikes from Ollie Maltby, Lee Beeson and Tony Edwards in the second half.
Although beating one of the established UCL high-fliers was his aim before the game, player/boss Dunn was more impressed by the fact his side collected no cautions and refused to get involved in Eynesbury’s physical antics.
He said: “The first thing I’d say is fair play to the referee. It must have been hard for him, but I think he got the red cards right.
“The two in the first half were horrendous tackles and definite reds. The one in the second half looked to be for dissent, so they (Eynesbury) can have no complaints.
“I think they could have had a few more red cards, too. To be honest, we thought they might be trying to get the game abandoned.
“For us to have no yellow cards in that situation is a credit to the lads. They kept their heads and stuck to the task in hand.
“At 0-0 on 15 minutes and them having two men sent off, the gameplan goes out of the window.
“We had three redundant defenders as they just got men behind the ball.
“Once we settled down and made a few changes at half time, we got the goals we needed and quickly ended it as a contest.
“We probably could have had a few more goals, but I think we just decided to focus on keeping our heads and seeing the game out.
“It was a very strange game, almost a false fixture really. It was very difficult for us as you just don’t expect this kind of thing to happen. Maybe they came here thinking we were physical and they needed to match us. I just don’t know.”
Knights: Lovelace, Peasgood, Jack Smith, Bishop, Shipley, Tidswell, Ogden, Bayliss, Beeson, Nuttell, Maltby. Subs used: Edwards, Fieldhouse, Josh Smith.
Attendance: 90.
