Alex Brown’s early red card proves costly as Scarborough Athletic beaten 2-0 on the road at Buxton
A hugely controversial red card for Scarbrough Athletic’s Alex Brown after just 18 minutes proved costly, as Boro slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Buxton on Tuesday night to drop to 16th in National League North.
Down to 10 men for the remaining 72 minutes, Jono Greening’s side gave a gutsy performance, and were on top for long spells, but despite some good football from both sides, neither keeper had a difficult save to make all game, writes Steve Adamson.
The hosts twice went close in the opening three minutes, Cian Coleman flashed a shot wide, and the pacy Josh Popoola crossed towards Ben Sault, whose shot was deflected wide by Bailey Gooda.
A neat passing move involving Kieran Glynn, Cam Wilson and Alex Purver culminated in Frank Mulhern firing narrowly wide, before the game’s turning point on 18 minutes when Buxton midfielder Ben Sault raced onto a through-ball, and went down under a challenge from Brown.
The ref reached into his pocket for a card, but to the disbelief of the Boro team a red was brandished, despite Kieran Weledji being in close proximity.
Wilson switched to left-back, but was then replaced by Luca Colville who has more experience in the defensive role, and despite being a man short, Boro battled gamely, Will Thornton kicked clear when Tom Elliott ran into the box and Connor Kirby twice fired free-kicks into the Boro wall, while at the other end, Mulhern lashed a shot wide and a Weledji strike was blocked by Ethan Mann.
The deadlock was broken just before the interval, when Sault weaved his way into the Boro area, and Thornton was judged to have clipped his ankles, with Kirby netting from the penalty spot.
With Purver and Glynn both terrific in midfield, and Richie Bennett winning all the headers and flick-ons, Boro more than matched the hosts throughout the second half.
Harry Green burst down the wing and sent over an in-swinging cross that drifted past the back post, then a Purver corner was met by the hard-working Weledji, whose downward header bounced up into the arms of Buxton’s 19-year-old keeper True Grant, on loan from Manchester City.
Weledji teed up Bennett, who fired at the keeper, while in Buxton attacks, a Jack Stobbs ball across the goalmouth evaded the outstretched leg of Diego De Girolamo, and a run from Tom Elliott was halted by a superb Purver tackle.
There were neat passing moves from both teams, but neither keeper was tested. Liam Ravenhill fired wide for the hosts, before they doubled their lead on 73 minutes when a low cross from Popoola was smashed home from close range by skipper Kirby, his fifth goal in four games. De Girolamo had a shot deflected by Weledji into the arms of keeper Ryan Whitley, and Coleman fired over.
Boro were on top late on but the nearest they came to snatching a consolation goal was when Weledji netted from a Colville cross, but despite no flag, the ref blew for offside.
BUXTON - Grant, Mann, Williams (De Girolamo 50), Burton (Delap 82), Stobbs, Kirby (c) (Rose 85), Elliott (Tomlinson 87), Sault (Fitzhugh 82), Coleman, Ravenhill, Popoola
BORO - Whitley, Weledji, Brown, Purver, Thornton (c), Gooda, Green, Glynn, Mulhern, Bennett (Tear 68), Wilson (Colville 36)
REFEREE - Robert Claussen
BUXTON GOALS - Connor Kirby 44 (pen), 73
GOAL ATTEMPTS - BUXTON 10 (2 on target) BORO 7 (2 on target)
CORNERS - BUXTON 3 BORO 2
OFFSIDES - BUXTON 6 BORO 2
RED CARD - Alex Brown 18 min
YELLOW CARDS - Connor Kirby, Ben Sault (Buxton); Richie Bennett, Kieran Glynn, Frank Mulhern (Boro)
BORO MAN OF MATCH - Kieran Glynn
ATTENDANCE – 539 (70 away).