Brady Stone admits he lost his discipline after he was sent to the stands in Ely City’s narrow defeat to local rivals Newmarket Town last night.

The Ely boss was left incensed after the referee awarded the Jockeys a penalty and later sent off Robins goalkeeper Harry Reynolds in their 4-3 defeat at Cricket Field Road.

“We gave away a penalty which no-one in the ground thought was a penalty and Harry got booked, then the ref gave a free-kick which they scored from,” Stone said.

“Harry had a word with the ref and he sent him off and then he asked me to walk. I was ill-disciplined and lost my head.”

The hosts had taken an early lead through Jack Watson but Ely levelled matters thanks to Kelvin Enaro’s excellent 20-yard strike.

Newmarket regained their lead from the spot and added a third after the break, before stopper Reynolds was given his marching orders.

Matty Simpson pulled another goal back for Ely soon after but the hosts’ Jamie Thurlbourne notched a fourth, meaning Tom Williams late strike was nothing more than a consolation.

“I said before the game that there would be goals and I was right,” Stone said.

“I thought we did really well with 10 men and gave a really good account of ourselves against a good side who are third in the table.

“The boys came into the dressing room after the game and were disappointed not to get anything but I’m pleased that we’ve gone somewhere like Newmarket and score three good goals.”

Ely welcome Haverhill Rovers to the Unwin Ground on Friday night (7.45pm) for their third game in six days – a run of fixtures which Stone admits isn’t ideal in their quest for Thurlow Nunn Premier Division survival.

“Having three games in six days isn’t helpful but we’ll have to stay focused for Friday’s game, which will be another battle,” he said.

“Haverhill are down there with us so we know it will be another tough game.

“We know it’s still very close down at the bottom but we feel like we can finish in 12th.

“Obviously our main aim was to stay up but looking at the games we have and the squad we have, we think we can catch the teams around us.”