MERSTHAM boss Hayden Bird claims the referee "failed to control the situation" leading Peacehaven & Telscombe to walk off the pitch 75 minutes into their friendly at the Moatside on Tuesday night.
In what the Merstham manager conceded was a "feisty" game, Ryman League Premier Division side Peacehaven found themselves 5-2 down to their Division One South hosts, and when they were reduced to nine men, boss Shaun Saunders decided against finishing the game.
And Bird has some sympathy for the actions of his counterpart, believing the referee was wrong to act so harshly in a pre-season friendly.
"We were 5-2 up with 15 minutes to play and Peacehaven had two players sent off. As a result, they walked off," Bird said. "The referee didn't abandon it. Peacehaven asked the referee if they could take the two players off and bring on other players, rather than have them sent off but the referee said they had used all the substitutes and refused.
"I think the referee could have handled things better. Peacehaven lost their composure because they were being beaten, but the referee failed to control the situation. I'm sure he could have come to arrangement with Shaun [Saunders].
"For me, there was nothing to be gained in playing a friendly against nine players and it was a shame for the 120 people who had come to watch 90 minutes of football."
However, Bird praised the way Merstham's players kept their heads in a temperamental game.
"The players conducted themselves very well; they were excellent," he said. "It was getting a bit feisty out there, no question about that, but that is something you have to deal with in the league season as well.
"Gone are the days when Merstham might have been bullied but we stood up for ourselves within the laws of the game."
