Newark & Sherwood manager Romaine Graham wants more protection for Micah Jebbison after winger’s red card

Romaine Graham called for better protection for Micah Jebbison after the Newark & Sherwood winger was sent off on Saturday.

Jebbison saw red midway through the first half after reacting to the latest in a series of bad challenges against landlords Harrowby.

Boss Graham didn’t dispute the dismissal but could understand his player’s frustration.

The 10 men took the lead through Tyler Dacres but conceded twice in the last 15 minutes to wind up empty-handed.

“It was a bit of a bad reaction from Jebbo,” said boss Graham. “To be fair, the ref’s got to do better in protecting our player.

“He’s had three tackles on him that would have been orange cards if there was one.

“They’re borderline reds, and they only got booked for one, so then on the third one our player reacted in a bad way.

“We knew he’d get the red but I think the ref could definitely do better.

“I spoke to Jebbo after the game and tried to understand what provoked a reaction.

“I’ve been there as a player when you lose your head but, as a gaffer, I’ve got to let him know you’ve let the lads down.

“The type of player Jebbo is, he’s a dynamic winger, so he’s going to get clattered anyway.

“The ones on Saturday were quite poor challenges but he should be used to it. It’s an uphill task with 10 men.”

Dacres, impressing in the absence of top scorer Kieran Cummings, gave Newark a 64th-minute lead.

It was a Cummings-type goal as his first touch took him away from the defence before beating the keeper.

Harrowby equalised from a free-kick 12 minutes later and grabbed a winner with six minutes remaining.

A great save denied Marley Fearon a last-gasp equaliser as the Highwaymen missed out on a point.

Graham said: “I thought we could get three points after Tyler scored. It was a great goal.

“You wouldn’t have known we were down to 10 men but then we ran out of steam and Harrowby made the pitch really big.

“It’s a big pitch anyway and two lapses in concentration and it was all over.

“Because we were so dominant, I thought we could treat it like 11 v 11 but in hindsight I could have shut up shop.

“I went to a back three and then four and left two up there to cause problems.

“They were going for it so it was risk and reward but they equalised from a set-piece, which was disappointing, and then got the winner.”

Newark & Sherwood are virtually out of play-off contention having fallen 17 points behind the top five, in 12th place, although they do have up to three games in hand.

They travel to fourth-bottom Deeping Rangers this Saturday (3pm) and on Tuesday go to a Heanor side who lost in the FA Vase quarter-finals last weekend.

Cummings is available after returning from a trip to America to see ex-Nottingham Forest man Alex Mighten, now of MLS club San Diego.

“Deeping is a pressure game for the boys because we need to get some points,” said Graham.

“Harrowby was a game where I wanted to try and get a win and kick on because we’ve got some more favourable games coming up but we didn’t, so now it’s a must-win really at Deeping.

“Heanor away is a tough ask. It’s always a difficult place to go although I’ve done quite well there as a player and scored quite a few goals.”