Wivenhoe Town boss Mo Osman felt his team paid the price for the sending off of Peter Sansford in their Ridgeons League premier division clash at Stanway Rovers.

The Dragons had been leading 1-0 through a Tom Cutts goal when Sansford was given his marching orders for reacting to a late challenge by Rovers’ Adam Brotherton.

It was a moment that turned the game as Wivenhoe were pushed back by their hosts, who finally equalised in the 88th minute through Julian Simon-Parson and the game ended in a 1-1 stalemate.

Osman said: “I thought we played the better football until we went down to ten men and then it was backs to the wall.

“I think if we had kept Pete (Sansford) on the pitch, we would have won.

“In the end we paid the price with tired legs and not being able to hold the ball at the other end to give the defence any relief.”

Meanwhile, Stanway boss, Wayne Bond, felt it was a game that lacked quality.

While it extended his team’s unbeaten run to six games, he was left unsatisfied by their one-point haul.

He added: “I think people saw two poor teams out there to be honest.

“As the game wore on, I felt we got on top, especially when they went down to ten men in the last 20 minutes, but unfortunately for us, their keeper pulled off some great saves.

“It was a rough and tumble game and not much pretty football played.

“I see it as two points dropped, but it’s another point we have picked up and moved a bit further away from the bottom three.”