It follows Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Sutton Coldfield Town when the name of Matthew Douglas was added to the list of niggling injuries. He limped off after just 13 minutes and was replaced by Sam Smith, ushered back into action sooner than expected.
Managers Lee Andrews and David Hewson had left Scott Allison and Phil McLuckie on the bench at Coles Lane, although both appeared as second-half substitutes. That decision was based on the assumption that neither would be able to complete two games over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Reds had taken a 16th-minute lead with Tom Kilifin scoring his first league goal for the club after good work on the right from Robbie Hebson.
It prompted a good opening spell from the west Cumbrians which should have yielded more success, debutant Nathan Waterston narrowly missing the target and Josh Calvert and Kilifin, again, thwarted by the agility of Town’s keeper James Wren.
The good work was undone when Reds conceded a bizarre equaliser in the 25th minute with Aaran Taylor’s blunder proving costly. Receiving the ball from David Symington’s throw-in, Taylor misjudged the bounce and his attempted clearance appeared to go out for a corner.
The assistant referee didn’t confirm that and Taylor’s wayward clearance fell to, of all people, the vastly experienced Luke Rodgers who had the simple task of rolling the ball into the empty net.
“Aaran held his hand up admitting the error but felt the ball had gone out for a corner which their players appealed for,” said Hewson in his post-match interview. “Some decisions go in your favour and others don’t. But I wasn’t happy with the officials throughout the game,” he added.
Hewson and Andrews voiced their concerns to the match assessor after the game.
“Overall, though, it was two points dropped.”
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