Witham Town assistant manager Brad King felt his team were "a little bit robbed" as they were held to a 1-1 draw in their local derby against Heybridge Swifts.

The two teams have ambitions of a top-five finish in Ryman League division one north this year but produced a stalemate at the Village Glass Stadium.

Witham took the lead when Luke Olley poked the ball home from a corner in the 59th minute, but the hosts were almost immediately reduced to ten men.

Having been cautioned for a handball in the first half, Witham full-back Craig Emery was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Heybridge's Michael Cheek to leave the hosts to battle with reduced numbers for the final half an hour.

Emery's two cards were among a total of eight shown by referee Russell Howes during the game - a tally that neither set of management felt had been necessary - and it contributed to a patchy end to the game.

Heybridge were unable to really make their extra man count, but they were given a lifeline in the 85th minute when Howes pointed to the penalty spot after Witham's Kris Newby and Swifts' Luke Callander came together in the box. 

Ryan Doyle happily stepped forward and slammed the ball into the net to grab a share of the spoils, but King felt the ending was a bit harsh on his team after their efforts over the 90 minutes.

 

“On reflection, I think we feel a little bit robbed," he said.


“They had a couple of chances, but I thought we had more of the possession overall and caused them problems.


“It was a bit of a sucker punch to be caught with the penalty, which I felt was a bit dubious and it was a bit of a kick for us.


“I suppose you could say a point was fair, but I felt we edged it."

Heybridge boss Mark Hawkes added: Hawkes added: “I think both sides would have settled for a point before the game started but, even though we were 1-0 down at the time, we played against ten men for 25 minutes and didn’t really use the extra man.


“The conditions and the wind made it difficult, though, and I think it’s a good point at the end of the day.”

For a full match report, pictures and more reaction, see this week's paper.