Scott Bridges and Kaan Fehmi both saw red as Royston Town surrendered their eight-match winning Southern League Division One Central run at 10-man Godalming Town on Saturday.

The match was a dour affair with few chances for either side, however it was lit up by an early sending-off for Crows captain Bridges.

A lunging challenge was deemed sufficiently reckless and dangerous and he was given his marching orders to put Royston on the back foot.

Sloppy and blunt team play from the visitors posed no problem for their unambitious hosts and the first half was understandably scoreless.

The second half was more of the same as Royston created no real impetus and Steve Castle’s efforts to inject some change with the introduction of his substitutes never really had any affect.

This uninspiring game looked set to go down as a goalless draw until the 83rd minute when Gus Scott-Morriss’ clumsy challenge in the penalty area was punished with a spot kick which home striker Darren Wheeler slotted in low under the diving Ron Yates.

Royston’s dreadful afternoon was made worse as Fehmi was also shown a straight red card for an altercation with Godalming’s Liam Roberts, who was also dismissed for violent behaviour.

It was an extremely disappointing day for the promotion-seeking Crows and they will certainly need to re-group quickly to prepare for the significant league challenges to come.