Bucks have two sent off in stormy Whitby defeat

Buxton slid from second to fifth in the Northern Premier League after a second defeat in five days.

Boss Martin McIntosh was left unhappy by the performance of the match officials in their 4-2 loss at Whitby Town, with two Bucks seeing red during the contest.

The referee first awarded a ‘soft’ penalty kick to Whitby and then ruled out a Buxton equaliser at 2-1 down.

But McIntosh was also quick to state that there were self-inflicted wounds as his team was reduced from 11 to nine men within a minute in the second half.

Firstly Danny Burns earned a second yellow card for a halfway line foul then interval substitute Nic Travis rightly saw red for a reckless, high challenge.

However, there followed the most remarkable and unexpected 10 minutes of play as the nine men enjoyed a majority of possession and fashioned a well made 79th-minute equaliser as Liam Hardy headed home a superb right-flank cross by the excellent Joe McGee, another interval substitute.

McGee, on his second ‘debut’ for the club, was one of three outstanding Buxton players, alongside Brad Abbott and Niall Doran, all of whom were major contributors to some penetrative attacking play that was ultimately overshadowed by the indiscipline which probably cost the Bucks some reward.

However after the equaliser Whitby forced several corners and from the last centre-back Weledji scored with a shot deflected into the roof of the net.

Five minutes later Tymon’s shot sealed the victory but between the goals third substitute Jamie Jackson forged between two defenders at the edge of the penalty area but, off balance, fired both high and wide.

At the outset Buxton had gained a fortuitous 11th minute advantage.

Home keeper Bland found a firm Weledji back-pass rather difficult to control but it was his slip on the soft turf that presented Hardy with an open-goal opportunity he wasn’t about to miss.

There was plenty of end-to-end play before Town’s 25th-minute penalty kick, struck home by Hopson, was awarded for a foul by Jamie Green on Tymon.

The Bucks responded well with Doran a constant threat on the right, beating two defenders to fire a goal-bound shot saved by Bland with a leg.

The diminutive winger then worked a one-two with Hardy but the latter couldn’t find the control to restore Buxton’s lead.

Instead it was Whitby who scored next, in the 39th minute.

Too often Town had exploited space on Buxton’s right and from another attack on that flank Snaith shot home.

Once again the visitors replied positively on their right flank and when Doran slung over a lofted cross to the far post, Burns ran from deep to head home yet the goal was controversially ruled out for offside.

Buxton’s half-time substitutions saw Doran switch to the left to accommodate McGee while Abbott moved forward in place of the ineffective Luke Hinsley.

The visitors dominated play to the hour with McGee marginally offside to end a promising attack.

Whitby also showed intent on the break until the dismissals changed the nature of the match.

Buxton: Budtz; Bembo-Leta (J), Burns, Young, Green; Doran, Ravenhill, Abbott, Taylor (McGee 45); Hinsley (Travis 45); Hardy (Jackson 81). Unused subs: Walker, Williams.