Martin Allen rues red card as Chesterfield taste defeat for first time

The Spireites were 2-1 up through goals from Zavon Hines and William Evans when Binnom-Williams was shown a straight red card by referee Joe Johnson seven minutes into the second half for a rash tackle on Barrow forward Nathan Waterston.

Chesterfield boss Allen felt Mr Johnson was correct with his decision and was left to reflect on one which got away, with Sheffield United loanee Tyler Smith netting two for Barrow after this to go with Jack Hindle’s opener and ensure the home side took all three points.

“We always knew it was going to be a very difficult and very competitive game,” said Allen, who also reflected on a superb save from Barrow goalkeeper Andrew Firth to deny Charlie Carter from a free kick which denied a potential equaliser late on.

“We showed a lot of courage to come back into the game and go ahead, but obviously the sending off was a pivotal point of the game and I thought the referee made the correct decision – it was a very poor choice of a tackle at that moment.”

Despite the defeat, Allen was able to take plenty of positives from Chesterfield’s overall showing to take into this Saturday’s trip to promoted Salford City.

“There were a couple of errors in judgement, but apart from that I thought they did okay,” said Allen. “This was a better performance than at Ebbsfleet when we didn’t play well and won 1-0.

“We showed a lot more guts and character, a lot more fight and a lot more spirit, but we didn’t take our chances when they came.”

A further dampener was put on the evening by Sam Wedgebury being forced off less than half an hour into his first start of the season with injury, with Allen unsure of the midfielder’s prognosis.

“I think it would be too early to say what it is until we’ve had a scan done, but it doesn’t look good,” added Allen.