Rovers coach left bemused by red card on dramatic night
ROVERS head coach Kevin Gillease hopes ‘common sense will prevail’ after being sent off in the dying moments of Friday night’s thrilling 3-3 top of the table draw on the KGV 3G.
Amid the mist and with his side chasing a stoppage-time winner, Gillease was shown red for deliberately handling the ball on the field of play.
But Gillease argued later he did no such thing and was as surprised as everyone in the ground when referee Ross de Carteret brought out a red card.
‘It was bouncing towards me and I just caught it. I didn’t think I was on the pitch at all.
‘The ref said the red card was for deliberately interfering with play. But that’s ridiculous. Hopefully, common sense will prevail. It certainly wasn’t deliberate.
‘I was completely shocked by it and spent the last 90 seconds behind the fence.’
In those dying seconds of a terrific game, Gillease was sure that his team should have been awarded a penalty as Sylvans sub Nick Trebert tried to rob Sam Hall as the winger raced into the box off the right.
‘I thought he went through the back of Sammy for the ball,’ said Gillease who conceded a subsequent claim for a penalty shortly after was not a spot-kick, Hall being fouled outside the area and not inside as much of the Rovers pitch side cohort claimed.
Rovers had twice led by a two-goal margin, only for Sylvans to give themselves a lifeline with a goal just after the break and then gain a fluky equaliser with 10 minutes remaining.
‘It was a spectacle,’ Gillease agreed.
‘We said at half-time “where’s that 45 [min.] gone?”’
Sylvans’ escape sees them stretch their unbeaten record to 14 matches.
Their coach, Martyn de Garis, again praised his young team for their character after being outplayed for the first half.
FNB Priaulx League match reports in Monday's Guernsey Press.
