BROCKENHURST boss Pat McManus maintained his sense of humour after Saturday’s FA Cup preliminary round exit against Hartley Wintney.

The sending-off of skipper Matt Burt took its toll as Brock lurched from 2-1 to 5-1 down at Grigg Lane.

McManus later joked on Twitter: “Fair play to Matt Burt agreeing to repay the club £1925 lost revenue and his team-mates their win bonus after his red card...#skipper.”

Having fallen behind to a Sam Argent penalty awarded for handball against Burt, Brock equalised with a Will Tickle spot-kick before ex-Saint Argent struck again.

Burt then saw red for a foul, opening the door for Liam Eagle, Dean Stow and sub James Tennant to kill the Badgers off.

“I was taking the mickey with the tweet, but the red card changed the game massively,” said McManus.

“We’d completely dominated the first half and did everything we’d worked on well.

“I was disappointed that Matt was shown two yellows, yet one of their centre-halves committed nine fouls and was never in danger of getting sent off.

“That was a big issue for me.

“I had no issue with the scoreline, they dominated against ten men as the confidence from our side drained.

“But I do have an issue with why we went down to ten men - and they didn’t - and how we reacted to going down to ten.

“The average age of our side was 21-and-a-half and this was a learning curve for some of them about reacting in the face of adversity.”