Hartpury FC suffered a successive defeat, losing out 3-1 to Bishops Cleeve, following a momentum shifting red card on Monday afternoon.
Riley McGregor’s equalising spot kick was made a distant memory following Louis Manning’s sending off, that flipped this Southern League Div One South clash on its head, at the Everyone’s Energy Stadium.
Vanylson Silva saw a driven effort skip wide, inside the opening minute, following a fast start from the Acorns.
But it was Cleeve who struck first on 10 minutes, when Will Turner headed home from close range.
That lead lasted no longer than four minutes when McGregor dispatched a spot kick into the bottom left corner, after Manning was tripped in the area.
Nathan Jenkins almost forced in a second just minutes later, when his low driven effort was smartly turned behind by Mitres goalkeeper, Sam Gilder.
Jesse Aldridge stepped up next for the Acorns but saw his low effort bobble wide on 32 minutes.
Two minutes later, Manning struck the underside of the crossbar with a rifled effort, after he had sent his defender for an early half time shower.
The Acorns dominated proceedings late on in the half as Jenkins flashed an effort just wide of the goal, on 39 minutes.
But Seth Locke made sure the score remained level heading into the break, when a produced a fantastic reaction save to turn a Ross Langworthy acrobatic effort over the bar on 40 minutes.
HALF TIME – BISHOPS CLEEVE 1-1 HARTPURY FC
The second half didn’t start the best for the Acorns when Manning was given a surprising second yellow card and sent off, on 52 minutes.
But the Acorns went straight down the other end and should’ve made it 2-1 but Jenkins couldn’t keep his effort down from close range.
Some resolute defending saw the Acorns put in three outstanding blocks, denying Cleeve the chance of taking the lead, on 54 minutes.
The chaos resumed on 61 minutes, when Locke was forced into another save against Adulai Sambu, before Josh Roney made a vital clearance off the line on the rebound.
Locke got down well to turn away a Jake Lee headed effort on 64 minutes, to keep the game levelled up.
But Cleeve found a breakthrough on 66 minutes when Sambu turned home a Noah Rubio low cross, from 12-yards.
Cleeve had a third just four minutes later when Reegan Messenger squeezed the ball home from 18-yards.
Morgan Ewing made a fantastic run, from deep in his own half, before seeing a driven effort blocked behind on 79 minutes.
McGregor came close to finding a late way back in, but his sweeping effort cannoned back off the post on 88 minutes, seeing the Acorns suffer back-to-back defeats.
The Acorns will look to get back to winning ways when we welcome Melksham Town to the 4ED Hartpury Stadium, on Saturday.
FULL TIME – BISHOPS CLEEVE 3-1 HARTPURY FC
STARTING XI – Locke (GK), Kent ©, Sanniola (Shyamapant 76’), Sims, Roney, McGregor, Jenkins, Aldridge (Ewing 67’), Coates (Evans 81’), Manning, Silva
UNUSED SUBS – Knowles, Symons
