COLCHESTER United boss Paul Lambert was incensed with the challenge that left U's reserve left-back Ben Griffths with a broken nose.
Carl Marston
Colchester soccer, secondary story
By Carl Marston
COLCHESTER United boss Paul Lambert was incensed with the challenge that left U's reserve left-back Ben Griffths with a broken nose.
Griffths received the injury during Wednesday night's Essex Senior Cup tie against Aveley Town, which ended in a 2-1 win for the League One hosts.
Teenager Griffiths, a member of the U's youth team set-up, was felled by a robust challenge from Aveley striker Joel Barnett - the United camp believe that a use of the elbow accounted for the youngster's nasty injury.
“I would love there to be a few more games for the reserves, to help with the big jump up to senior level, but this was not a good advert for it!” fumed Lambert.
“I was very disappointed with the challenge. Our lad (Griffiths) has got a broken nose. I was not happy with it.
“I don't mind a competitive game, but not like that. The referee and linesman both saw the incident, which made it really disappointing,” added Lambert, with reference to Barnett receiving just a yellow card.
Two penalties from Scott Vernon secured a narrow win for an experienced Colchester team, which also included senior players Dean Gerken, Chris Coyne, Phil Ifil, Medy Eltio and Sunday-Akanni Wasiu. Striker Vernon netted the winner in stoppage time.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here