Ian Bates has revealed his amazement at being shown a red card as battling Wembley earned a hard-fought point at Hartley Wintney on Saturday.
The Lions player-manager was given his marching orders after two bookable offences in the last 10 minutes in Hampshire.
It could not have come at a worse time as Yassine Fehmi-Gil’s penalty and Marvin Lawrence’s strike had put Wembley back on level terms after the Row had led 2-0.
“I don’t think I deserved it,” Bates said of his dismissal. “Nobody else appealed for it. I won a header and their player bumped into me. The referee has blown up and I’ve turned around expecting to get a free-kick and he’s shown me a second yellow and the red. The first one was just a tackle but even then we got the ball.
“We didn’t play too well in the first-half and went 2-0 down at the start of the second but managed to pull it back to 2-2. That was pleasing but we still had enough chances to win the game. We lost the first-half 1-0 but when the second 2-1 and it should’ve been more to be honest.”
Wembley’s Vale Farm pitch is a real point of pride for the club, with teams from up and down the Combined Counties Premier complimenting the Lions on the state of their surface.
It was a different story at the Memorial Playing Fields though and Bates says his team did well to cope with the conditions.
“Hartley Wintney has a really big sloping pitch,” he explained. “The surface wasn’t great at all so I’m pleased with how the boys adapted to the difficulties that brought with it. The players we’ve got are used to playing on our pitch, which is a decent surface, and no disrespect but some of the pitches in this league are like cow fields.”
Bates’ side, who saw their Premier Cup clash at Chessington & Hook postponed on Tuesday night, are on a cracking run of seven games without defeat.
They take on struggling Colliers Wood in the league this weekend before testing themselves against Ryman Premier outfit Hampton & Richmond next week.
“We’ve played them [Colliers Wood] in the league already and they’re not a bad little side,” Bates added. “They get it down and play, like us, and I’m expecting a much tougher game than Saturday. We’ll have a go and try to keep the run going.
“Hampton are a Ryman Premier side. Realistically, do they need to put out a full team against a Combined Counties side? If I was manager I don’t think I would. We’ve got nothing to lose so we’ll just go out there and enjoy it.”
