GRAVESEND & Northfleet manager Andy Ford had no complaints with defender Jay Saunders' second half dismissal which cost the club the chance to go top of the Nationwide Conference after Tuesday night's 1-0 defeat at Aldershot.

Saunders received his marching orders from referee Brian Malone for a second caution in the the 52nd minute to leave his team-mates with an uphill task. He became the fourth Fleet player to be red carded this season.

"He let himself and the side down and he knows it," said Ford. "But we scrapped and we battled and showed a lot of character. I won't say we were the better side but I believe we deserved something from the game.

"But you have to take these setbacks on the chin and get on with it. I'm bound to say that the referee had a difficult game because the atmosphere at this ground is intimidating and worth a few points to Aldershot."

For 38 minutes, 10-man Fleet's defensive resilience, coupled with some pacy counter-attacking, had looked good enough to extract a point until Aldershot substitute Tim Sills broke their hearts with a headed winner four minutes into second half stoppage time.