PAUL Carden says Bohan Dixon “let us down big time” after being sent off early in Warrington Town’s defeat at Morpeth.

With his side already 1-0 down, Dixon grabbed the face of a home defender in an incident that was not seen by referee Graeme Hopper.

However, Hopper’s assistant did spot it and the midfielder was given his marching orders, forcing him to watch on as his side slipped to a 4-0 defeat – their first away league loss of the season.

Town also had Mitch Duggan sent off in injury time for a poor tackle and Carden had no complaints with either dismissal.

“Bohan has let us down big time,” he said.

“At 1-0 down, we had to stay in the game and not get carried away.

“If you grab someone by the face, you give the officials a decision to make.

“The referee hasn’t seen it but the linesman has and he’s sent him off, and rightly so as I’d want an opponent sent off for what Bohan did.

“Mitch’s is silly and late.

“He says he’s got his foot caught. I’d have to see it again but he has gone down the back of his leg.”

After Liam Noble had put Morpeth ahead early, goals from Carl Finnigan, Liam Henderson and Jeff Henderson gave the home side a decisive half-time advantage.

However, Carden was heartened by his depleted side’s response after the break as they stopped Morpeth from inflicting further damage.

“The game was done at half time but I wanted us to get something out of the second half and the lads did well,” he said.

“Everyone had a go and the three subs gave us legs and energy to avoid a bigger scoreline.

“They are a good team. They will be up there at the end of the season, without a doubt.

“At times, in the first half especially, the two centre forwards schooled our defenders.

“They played on Tyrone (Duffus) and Mitch, pulling them into positions they didn’t want to be in.

“They are both young lads – Ty hasn’t played a lot of football at this level but he did listen as he was very good in the second half.”

There was confusion before the match as Yellows arrived in the north east to find the Craik Park pitch in a considerable state of disrepair.

A conversation was had between the two managers and the referee and it was agreed the game would go ahead.

While keen to stress he was not using it as an excuse for his side’s defeat, Carden believes the pitch was unsuitable for play.

“The game shouldn’t have been played but its not an excuse. It was and we’ve got to get on with it,” he said.

“The referee didn’t want to make a decision – he was putting it on the managers.

“That wasn’t the reason for the result, but it played a part.

“The confusion doesn’t help anyone but obviously it affected us a lot more than them.

“I said to the referee he had to be sure that the pitch wasn’t a danger to the players.

“One of the things I was worried about was dislocations through feet getting stuck.

“We shouldn’t have been asked the question when we got here about a pitch that probably wasn’t playable.

“It wasn’t the reason for the result – I will reiterate that. The reason for the result was they were better than us.”