John Yems critical of officials after Ashley Nadesan red card in home draw

Crawley head coach John Yems criticised referee Darren Drysdale and his officials for “ruining the game” following the 2-2 home draw against Harrogate in Sky Bet League Two.

Yems was unhappy that Harrogate’s Connor Hall only received a booking in the incident that led to Crawley substitute Ashley Nadesan being sent off midway through the second half.

Nadesan was straight red-carded after appearing to move his head downwards into the face of Hall, and Yems claimed Drysdale had not seen the incident.

“Something has to be done.”said Yems. “Their player wrestled Nadders to the ground but he only got a yellow card and Nadders got a red. It’s ridiculous.

“The whole game has been ruined by the three officials, who were incompetent.”

Yems felt the Reds put in a supreme effort, particularly after captain George Francomb was forced off injured in the first half and the experienced Joel Lynch failed to appear after the interval.

The boss added:” Harrogate are the best side we’ve played but credit to our lads. The fans kept us in the game and it was a good point for us.

“Unfortunately we gave away two preventable goals from our point of view, but we were ahead at the break and still had chances:”

An own goal from Archie Davies shortly after the interval pulled Harrogate level after two goals in four minutes from Lynch and Sam Ashford had put Crawley ahead after Luke Armstrong’s second-minute opener.

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver described the result as a “decent point” and felt there were “a lot of positives” from the second half performance.

He said: ”It was a passionate game and a good advert for this level.

“It was a sucker-punch to go in at half-time 2-1 down and we were shell shocked.

“But we could have won it right at the end through Luke Armstrong. At the end of the day, though, we are not too disheartened about getting a point.”

Weaver felt that, on reflection, Nadesan will regret his red card.

He added: ”He moved downwards into the nose of our player; he knows it. He will probably go to bed regretting it.”

Weaver wants his men to work on the defensive side of their game and said: ”We conceded another two goals we could have prevented.

“At 2-1 down at half-time it is still a decent point.”