St Albans City boss Steve Castle livid over Boro dismissals (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Saints manager Steve Castle fumes over sending off against Boro

11:50am Wednesday 2nd September 2009 in Sport By Simon Mail

Steve Castle is considering appealing if he is charged with barracking the referee after being sent off during St Albans City's controversial 2-1 defeat to Hampton and Richmond Borough on Monday.

The Saints were reduced to nine men after Jamie Thurlbourne and James Fisher were dismissed, while the manager was also ordered off by referee Paul Forrester.

City were reduced to ten men when Thurlbourne was dismissed for hauling down striker Craig Dundas despite assistant manager Mark Peters appearing to be ready to intervene on the penalty spot. Fisher also saw red in the final minutes for foul and abusive language.

Castle spoke to Forrester after the match but strongly refutes the accusation he was constantly barracking him.

The manager fumed: "When someone says things I didn't do then that just isn't right. He said I was barracking him which just wasn't true. There was no verbal abuse in any shape or form. The manner he has done it in is just complete arrogance.

"I haven't sworn at the guy, I just wondered whether we were going to get anything when the opposite number was screaming at him to keep his player on after his player elbowed one of our guys. There was a hell of a lot of inconsistency there.

"I'll take responsibility for a bit of ill discipline by me. I think it was quite harsh because all I said to him was are we going to get anything? He deemed that a sending off so very, very inconsistent.

"I feel very hard done by from this game in particular. It was a huge injustice."

When asked whether he thought Thurlbourne was the last man when dismissed, Castle replied: "No he wasn't. Mark was on the penalty spot and you're not going to get a much more honest lad than Mark and he said he was ready to come round and just cover the thing. But the referee has seen an awful lot of things.

"It was hot so I don't know whether that affected his judgment in any shape or form."

The Saints boss insists his side are not an aggressive team despite receiving their fifth red card on the pitch in only seven games this season. He also admitted his disappointment at Fisher's actions, saying his absence will be a significant loss to the side.

"That is ill-discipline from James," Castle added. "We are all getting frustrated with the situation and the results. He's done the worst thing possible and very hard on him but it's going to cost him in the pocket.

"He's going to miss three games and with how they're going we're going to miss him because he’s a vital player. It's cost us dearly.

"We've got to show a little bit more discipline than that. But I don't think we’re an aggressive bunch in any shape or form. We're a little bit the other way if anything.

"We are not a dirty team and yet if you look at our disciplinary record this season it looks disgusting."

City found themselves 2-0 down after just 20 minutes as the clinical visitors took their chances before Drew Roberts pulled one back with a penalty.

It was the Saints' second defeat in three days after going down away 2-0 at Bishop's Stortford on Saturday.