WHILE Billy Crook is relieved that he should be seeing at least some Braintree Town action over the Easter weekend, the Iron midfielder is gutted that he will miss the team’s trip to St Albans City on Monday.

Crook felt it was a harsh decision as he was sent off for the first time in his career during the team’s 1-1 draw at Vanarama National League South play-off rivals Hampton and Richmond Borough last weekend.

He played in the team’s 2-1 win at Weston-super-Mare in midweek and expected to be available for their home game against Oxford City on Good Friday (kick-off 3pm), however, a three-game ban will then start and he will miss the Bank Holiday trip to another play-off rival - St Albans City - on Monday.

The 27-year-old midfielder has made 39 appearances this season, missing just two games, and has scored ten goals - five of which have come from the penalty spot - so he was frustrated that referee Jack Packman had pulled out a red card for what he felt was an innocuous challenge.

“I thought at the time that it was one of those that you see all the time where the defender clears and you try to block it,” he said.

“When the referee blew his whistle I thought at worst it would be a yellow card and I never thought it would be red.

“I’d never been sent off before in my career.

“I’m not that sort of player - I don’t even get many yellows.

“I thought it was harsh but I was really disappointed as it was my first red.

“Looking back at it on video, it looks worse because my foot was high, but there was no malice and my back was turned really.

“It’s just disappointing as I’ll have a three-match ban now.

“I should be able to play on Friday, but I’m disappointed about Monday as I’d been looking forward to the game at St Albans.”

Braintree boss Brad Quinton was just as frustrated and also felt it was a harsh decision that would deny him of one of his key players during a crunch part of the season.

“It was a harsh one and more so after hearing their physio come back and say that there wasn’t a scratch on their player,” added Quinton.

“I approached the referee at half-time and said it’s hard as a manager to know what constitutes a sending off nowadays.

“The rules are very hard for managers, coaches and players to understand what is a sending off and what isn’t.

“None of my players have it in them to go out and hurt a player and I wouldn’t have anyone in my team who was like that, so it was a hard one for Billy.

“He is an inspiration in my squad and a joy to manage and coach.

“Every year he has gone on to better things and we’re going to miss him when he’s out.”

Luke Allen is also set to miss Monday’s game after he was also sent off at Hampton and Richmond Borough for receiving two bookings and Quinton knows he may have to juggle his resources.

The Iron boss added: “Luke (Allen) will have his one-game suspension, but we have Marc (Okoye) back now after his ban.

“Patrick Webber is also still out with an ankle ligament problem, but he’s not far away and we have cover in the squad with players out.

“I may have to freshen things up as it’s a busy period and a lot of the boys played an hour of football on Saturday with ten men so I’ll have to keep moving it around to keep them fresh.”