Wealdstone boss Maynard felt official played a huge part in Sutton United defeat

The Stones were left empty handed at Gander Green Lane on Saturday after going down to 10-men with midfielder Ashley Charles being sent off in the 40th minute of play.

The U’s scored twice after the sending off before the half-time whistle to stretch their lead to 3-0 which put the game to bed early on.

“They showed their quality, but it’s tough when you concede a goal that you know is handball then the referee makes a decision to send him (Ashley Charles) off it changes the game and flips it on its head,” Maynard said.

“It’s frustrating that the officials have had a key part to play in the game as I felt it was fairly even and even when we went 1-0 down there was nothing in the game.

“There is not a lot we can do about it now.”

The former assistant admitted he didn’t see the first booking for Charles but couldn’t believe he was handed a second yellow card.

“I didn’t see the first booking to be honest, I didn’t realise Charlesy had been booked, but the second one was never a foul,” Maynard insisted.

Wealdstone midfielder Ashley Charles was sent off away to Sutton United (Image: Jon Taffel)

“Their front man Omar Bugiel stepped across him, it’s not even a foul let alone a booking, but it’s killed the game of football really.

“I thought the lads stuck to it and done a really good job. We stuck to the game plan and we thought if we could get into half-time at 1-0 we’d be ok.

“The lads have dug deep and the character was excellent as to be 3-0 down at half-time and down to 10-men we came back.

“We said to the lads at half-time let’s make sure we don’t get beaten in the second-half. It was 4-1 in the end, we scored an excellent goal, and that was all we could ask of the lads.”

He added: “I have got to give credit to Sutton, they stick at it, they’ve got lots of pace out wide and down the middle. They always ask questions of you.”