Disappointment for Lilywhites

Campion 4

Skegness Town slumped to a disappointing defeat against high-flying Campion, who played three quarters of the game with 10 men.

It was a particularly frustrating result for the Lilywhites after a relatively successful last few weeks; a result that saw them slip back into the bottom three.

They now travel to basement side AFC Bolsover on Saturday in the hope of bouncing back to winning ways.

Manager Martyn Bunce introduced new signing Gary Nimmo from Immingham Town straight into the starting line-up.

Skipper Courtney Warren returned to the squad and sat on the bench with Jordan Potts.

Midfelder George Hobbins was suspended, while Jordan Smith and Harry Bunce were unavailable.

Bradford-based Campion arrived at the Vertigo Stadium in second place, justifiably one of the favourites for promotion this season.

And it soon became apparent why they are one of the fancied sides.

They stretched the Lilywhites with their quick fire passing and wide play and it was no surprise when they took the lead through Alex Cusack after just four minutes.

Then came the controversial sending off of the Campion goalkeeper Declan Lambton.

The game was 20 minutes old when Lambton, from the edge of his area, kicked the ball out of his hands.

His momentum took him out of the penalty area and because of the low trajectory of his clearance it crashed into the back of home striker Will Britton.

Instinctively Lambton grabbed at the rebound and was shown a red card by the referee.

It could be argued that Britton was hardly denied a goalscoring opportunity because he did not have control of the ball, but the ref wasted no time in issuing a straight red.

A bit harsh it may have been, but the decision offered the seasiders a lifeline.

And when Warren swept home a loose ball following a long throw on the hour the fair sized home crowd would have expected their side to have gone on to win the game.

To their credit, the visitors didn’t panic and Town rarely threatened them. Indeed Campion simply soaked up the pressure and regularly hit back on the break.

Counter attacks saw the visitors threaten Town at will and it came as no surprise when Campion regained the lead after 66 minutes through Talent Ndlovu.

Twice they hit the woodwork before skipper Graham Hall headed their third goal in the 80th minute.

Then in the dying stages of the game Cusack grabbed his second to complete a miserable day for the Seasiders.

TOWN: J. Lambley, Young, Stevens, Ford, Gray, Ashton, L. Lambley, Evison, Frost, Britton, Nimmo, Potts, Warren.