Source: PA
Ward feels hard done by
Colchester United manager John Ward was frustrated by the first-half dismissal of leading goalscorer David Mooney in his side's 2-0 home defeat to Southampton.
Saints midfielder Dean Hammond scored against his former club after winger Alex Chamberlain had given the visitors a 30th-minute lead, while Mooney was shown a straight red card by referee Phil Gibbs two minutes later for pushing Southampton right-back Danny Butterfield.
Ward said: "The sending off changed the whole complexion of the afternoon for everybody, not just players but also for the supporters.
"It was a big disappointment that that sort of thing happened. David did push him, but if they're sendings off, then many games would be abandoned because there wouldn't be enough players to play each other.
"Mr Gibbs will say that he's right by the letter of the law but if it was applied right the way through, you would lose a lot of players. A yellow card and a warning would have been fine and you get on with the game. We were in the game against a side who I think will be promoted and we played with some confidence.
"But we had to rethink the whole situation and we were a goal down and a player down. We showed a massive amount of spirit, which I would expect from the players and tried to get something out of the game and we pushed them as far as we could with 10 men."
