King's Lynn boss labels first half display at Buxton as 'abject' but praises his nine-man team after two red cards

Tommy Widdrington labelled King's Lynn Town's performance in the first half of their National League North defeat at Buxton as 'abject' as they were knocked off top spot following their fourth defeat of the campaign.

Buxton's Tommy Elliott was the match winner in a game where both Michael Clunan and Joshua Barrett were controversially sent-off within the space of two second half minutes for picking up a second booking each.

After the game, Widdrington told BBC Radio Norfolk: "I said to the players at half-time that it was the most abject 45 minutes I'd seen and it won't happen again, simple as that.

"We should have scored after four minutes and that might have changed things but I think we got spooked if you like.

"I don't think from the time I've been at the club I've had so many players off in terms of our passing wasn't as particularly crisp as it normally is and our energy levels in the first half were below our norm.

"People are saying to me why? I can't tell you that as we've prepared exactly the same as we have for every other game this season.

"Of course I'm frustrated and disappointed but there's also a little bit of me proud of the way as we dug in as a nine."

The Lynn boss refused to dwell on the club's two red cards other than to say: "If you were here the biggest talking point was the bloke in the middle again.

"There were ten yellows. There wasn't a bad tackle in the game from either team but there were double-figures in terms of cards but that's all I'm going to say.

"We've got to lick our wounds and lick them quickly as we're back on the road to Spennymoor on Tuesday morning.

"There were three teams out there but one was sadly lacking I thought."