Stuart Wardley feels Saffron Walden Town were well worth their 1-0 home victory over top-half Great Yarmouth Town in Thurlow Nunn Premier Division on Saturday despite seeing three of their men dismissed in a frenetic final 10 minutes.

Charlie Portway’s fifth goal in as many games in the 75th minute put Walden in front before James Crane was sent for an early bath after a second yellow card for a foul.

Things got worse when Richard Chadwick was removed for a late challenge with seconds of normal time remaining.

An ensuing melee saw Town’s Joe Murphy and Yarmouth’s Mitch Forbes also banished to leave just 18 men on the field but the Bloods hung on for their second league win in three games and player-manager Wardley thought it was a fair result.

Wardley told the Reporter: “It was a clean game until the last 15 minutes and then things got a little wild.

“To have three men sent-off is not great but I’m not sure they were all worthy of reds so we’ll take the positives from the game which are the well-deserved three points and a first clean sheet in seven games.”

The dismissed trio are still available for the festive period with a Boxing Day trip to rivals Haverhill Rovers followed by a home clash with Brantham Athletic on Janaury 2.

On the Haverhill game, he said: “They’ve [Haverhill] lost a bit of form so if we play like we did against Yarmouth I think we can do some damage.

“We’ve got nothing to fear and we’ll play like that.”