MARK Beesley had no complaints about one of the two red cards that ultimately cost his Warrington Town side at Hereford – but was critical of the other.

That said, he was full of praise to how the remaining nine players adapted and fought before eventually falling to a 2-1 defeat at Edgar Street.

With the game goalless, Connor Woods was shown a straight red card for violent conduct after referee Liam Corbett deemed him to have head-butted home midfielder Tom Pugh.

Shortly afterwards, goalkeeper Dan Atherton was caught in possession to allow Jason Cowley to open the scoring and when Bohan Dixon was dismissed for a second yellow card before half time, all hope looked lost.

However, a rare break upfield in first-half injury time saw Josh Amis win a penalty that Sean Williams converted and Town clung on after the break until Ethan Freemantle struck the winner 12 minutes from time.

After the game, Beesley was totally accepting of Woods’ “stupid” dismissal but bemoaned Corbett’s decision to send Dixon off and his display thereafter.

“Obviously, Connor has been stupid. We can’t condone that and he’s let us down,” he said.

“Bohan’s two yellows are the softest yellows I’ve ever seen in my life. The first one arguably isn’t even a foul, but the referee was card-happy against us all game.

“Josh Amis has gone clean through and is about to shoot but is brought down for a penalty, but he says it’s careless? If he’s booking Bohan, he’s got to book him.

“He’s running around chasing our goalkeeper to get the ball but I can’t fault our players’ effort. With nine men for 60-odd minutes, it was an unbelievable performance.

“We limited them mainly to shots from outside the box, but we then make a little mistake which has cost us the winner.”

As time went on in the second half, what appeared to be an unlikely point started to get more probably until Freemantle glanced home a cross to break Town’s resolve.

Even then, Beesley’s side had a glorious opportunity to snatch another equaliser in injury time, only for Isaac Buckley-Ricketts to produce a glaring miss from close range.

“With nine men, it’s a difficult task as Hereford are a good team. They’ve got a lovely pitch and they play some good stuff,” the Town boss said.

“For us to come here and get to 78 minutes still at 1-1 with nine men is a testament to our lads and I must credit them.

“For the effort they’ve put in and the team spirit they showed, it was a really big performance.

“That’s two in a row now at really tough, established clubs that we’ve got no points for, but we have to take heart from the performances.

“We knew this year that we wouldn’t win as many games, but we have to take positives and there’s loads from tonight.

“When you’ve got nine men, you have to almost count down periods of the game and work your way through it.

“We tried to frustrate them and we did – they made subs early and had four up front at the end, and they were starting to panic a bit but a good bit of play gets them their winner.

“We should then equalise, and that would have been an unbelievable point.”

Hereford’s opener came barely two minutes after Woods’ dismissal, with Atherton punished for taking a heavy touch inside his own area to present Cowley with an open goal.

However, Beesley refused to be too critical of his goalkeeper after he went on to produce several stunning saves to keep his side in the game, including an extraordinary tip onto the crossbar to deny an equally brilliant overhead kick from Cowley.

“The one he tips against the bar is an unbelievable save, and then he makes a few in the second half,” he said.

“We know he’s a good keeper, but he’s made a mistake and these things happen. When keepers make mistakes, it generally leads to a goal.

“These things happen but he’s been outstanding and will continue to get better.”

Owing to the “seven-day” rule that applies to suspensions incurred at this level, Woods and Dixon will both be able to play in Saturday’s home game against Scarborough Athletic before three and two-match bans kick in – Dixon will serve an extra game’s suspension for his second sending-off of the season.

Both will sit out the trip to King’s Lynn Town on December 16 and the home game against Banbury United on December 23, with Woods also missing the Boxing Day trip to Chester.