You could say that Ryman Division Three leaders Great Wakering Rovers were left with Egham on their faces on the day that League chairman Alan Turvey came to watch them play.

Not only did their understrength side suffer a setback to their title aspirations with only their second Ryman home defeat of the season - they finished the encounter with only nine men after having Tommy Dalgarno and substitute Gary Ewers sent off.

Rovers, who will definitely be without skipper John Heffer and Paul Pilkington for the rest of the season through injury, also have worries on that score over Ollie Evans and Richard Woodley.

Dalgarno and Ewers will start serving suspensions in a fortnight - but the chances are that they will have made certain of one of the three promotion spots by then.

Although East Thurrock and Tilbury could easily challenge them for the championship, the other three possible promotion contenders could not manage a win between them on Saturday.

Wakering need just five points from their six remaining games to be certain of going up and even that task would only be necessary in the unlikely event of Aveley getting full points from their remaining seven games.

To be honest, against a little more than average Egham side lying in the bottom half of the table, Wakering, in their first season as a Ryman side, looked rather tired for the first half-hour of this match.

They only really looked dangerous from set-pieces - particularly a series of corners sent over by Adam French. From one Micky Munro had a header cleared off the line by Steve Wilmore. Then Pilkington fired in a fast post header which visiting keeper Trent Phillips saved. Dalgarno saw his follow-up shot blocked.

There was more than a touch of ill-fortune for Rovers when they fell behind on 40 minutes. Neville Hickton was undoubtedly fouled by Wilmore before he tripped his opponent in the box and Aaron Nicholls fired home the penalty.

Wakering had the best chance of the opening half two minutes into injury-time when a ball over the top saw Dalgarno free in front of goal.

But his shot was at a good height for Phillips to produce another excellent save. The second-half was almost totally dominated by Rovers.

Dalgarno's excellence in the air saw Paul Flack put attacking partner Mark Hampshire through, but the latter, who would have undoubtedly scored with a shot across goal, tried a near post effort which again saw Phillips save well.

That was to be the last action for Dalgarno as, after both he and Phillips crashed to the ground and needed treatment after colliding at a corner, the Wakering man was shown the red card for allegedly elbowing the keeper during the tangle.

For a spell this adversity seemed to spur Rovers to new efforts and Jimmy Ablitt shot wide after a great run. But this was not to be Wakering's day - a point emphasised in injury-time when substitute Ewers joined Dal-garno after an alleged spitting incident.

It hardly improved the demeanour of home fans that all three match officials came from Surrey, Egham's county, and that is surely an item Mr Turvey and his League officials could address before next season starts.

On the attack - Rovers go in search of an equaliser

Picture: STEVE O'CONNELL

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