Red card hampers Skegness Town in heavy defeat at Parkgate

NCEL Division OneParkgate 5 Skegness Town 0
Loz Lambley.Loz Lambley.
Loz Lambley.

Skegness Town suffered another heavy defeat on the road after being reduced to 10 men.

The Lilywhites had Tom Sawyer sent off for his reaction to a poor tackle at Parkgate.

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Until that moment, just before the hour, the Lilywhites had been in this game, but with a man down they capitulated.

Although trailing 1-0 at the break, thanks to Matthew Crookes’s looping header, the seasiders were giving a good account of themselves at Rotherham-based Parkgate.

Then Sawyer hit out after being floored by a lunging tackle.

The officials discussed the incident for several minutes before showing the home player a yellow card for the challenge and sending Sawyer off for retaliation.

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Sawyer is now expected to miss three important games as the seasiders battle against relegation.

Even with a full compliment this was always going to be a tough fixture against a side who had beaten them 2-1 at home two weeks earlier.

With Courtney Warren unavailable Loz Lambley slotted in at right back, while Spalding United loanee Luke White joined Jordan Smith up top.

Bailey Forth returned to the bench after injury.

Soon after Sawyer’s dismissal the day went from bad to worse for the visitors when Brandon Bagley latched onto a ball over the top to double Parkgate’s advantage.

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Crookes added a second midway through the second half. Late goals from Simon Harrison and Alex Rippon completed a miserable afternoon for the Lilywhites.

The defeat saw them slip to 17th in the table and with nine games left they are staring relegation in the face.

Assistant manager Nick Chapman was in no doubt about the scale of the task ahead of the seasiders.

“This is not an easy league,” he said. “And everyone is capable of beating you if you don’t turn up.

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“We need to start picking up points, but this is a very tough league.”

TOWN: J. Lambley, L. Lambley, Morrall, Ford, Parish, Norburn, Sawyer, Sibbick, Ford, White, Hobbins, Smith, Nichols, Forth, Britton, Evison, Stevens.