Stamford AFC finish with nine men in their Southern League clash with Stratford Town

Stamford gained a good point against play-off rivals Stratford Town despite finishing the match with nine men on Saturday.

Connor Bartle and Jack Duffy were both red-carded in the second half of the Southern League Premier Division Central clash.

A penalty from Joao Varela had given Stamford the lead in first half injury-time before the Bards equalised through Callum Ebanks seven minutes after the break.

There were four changes to the Stamford starting line-up with Bartle, Tendai Chitiza, Lee Shaw Varela coming in for Elliott Durrell, Billy Bennett, Tobias Liversidge and Kai Tonge.

There was a break in play early on when Bartle received lengthy treatment due to a blow to the face.

Stamford's first chance came on 15 minutes when a James Blunden header was deflected over for a corner.

Jack Storer then put in a cross which troubled goalkeeper Tom Jackson but thankfully the Stamford stopper was able to recover before Ebanks fired a shot wide of the goal for the hosts.

George Hobbins met a long throw from Bartle but his shot was blasted over the bar while Lee Shaw had an effort which went wide.

As half-time approached, Stamford were awarded a penalty for handball and Varela stepped up and, with a short run up, slotted the ball into the net.

Stratford got themselves level seven minutes after the break when Storer found Ebanks and he outpaced the Daniels defence and composed himself to chip the ball over the onrushing Jackson.

Stamford were reduced to 10 men a minute later when Bartle fouled Charlie Williams and the referee showed the Daniels left back a straight red card.

From the resultant set-piece, Lewis Ludford-Ison fired a shot at Jackson which the Daniels keeper pushed away from danger.

The same player then had a header which went wide after he met a dangerous cross from the right.

Ben Isaacson then came to the rescue for Stamford after he denied Lafferty a great chance to score.

Stratford were applying lots of pressure on the Daniels rearguard but a combination of wasteful finishing and excellent defending kept the score level.

Ebanks had further efforts to score but he did not test Jackson as they either went wide of the goal or over the bar.

With a few minutes left, Stamford were reduced to nine men when Duffy was given a straight red after he fouled a Stratford player to try and stop another attack from the home side.

The Daniels held out though to take the draw which keeps them in the play-off spots with three matches remaining.

They host Banbury United on Saturday before an Easter Monday derby at Spalding United ahead of the final game of the regular season at home to Halesowen on April 26.