Eastleigh manager Paul Doswell had only one word for yesterday's 2-2 Jewson Wessex League draw at Thatcham - "surreal."
The ambitious Ten Acres side had nine players booked and two sent off and yet still fought back from a 2-0 half-time deficit.
Two of the yellow cards were flashed at Vince Rusher and Steve Thorp, who went on as substitutes at the start of the second half.
According to the linesman, the pair had gone on without permission, but Eastleigh insist that player/assistant manager Chris White had informed the officials that the subs were being made.
In Rusher's case, it proved particularly costly. He was later booked again for dissent, reducing Eastleigh to nine men following Martin Beck's earlier dismissal after White had headed them back to 2-1 from Warren Kenna's cross.
Between the red cards, new £6,000 striker, David Laws from Weymouth, got off the mark with a goal on his debut - a header from 12 yards.
Unbelievably, Eastleigh could even have won it, but Warren Kenna shot wide from five yards after being set up by Laws.
It was a far cry from the first half which Thatcham had dominated. Bob McLay put them ahead before scoring with the Berkshire side's second penalty of the game.
Colin Matthews had saved the first from Sean Cook and was himself penalised for the second, supposedly punching a player instead of the ball - another decision hotly disputed by Eastleigh.
Doswell said: "It was a lesson in management, but I expect I'll wake up with a smile on my face tomorrow because, at half-time, we didn't expect to get anything out of the game."
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