IAN Robinson will be missing one of the key cogs in his Lymington & New Milton side when he returns to face his old club AFC Totton at Testwood Park tomorrow.

The man who held the Stags' managerial reins for seven years must again do without the experience of his abrasive skipper Jimmy Sheppard, who is still slogging his way through a 42-day suspension.

According to Sydenhams Wessex League chairman Alf Peckham, there are moves afoot to bring the Wessex in line with higher leagues next season and dish out bans in matches rather than days.

That can't come quickly enough for Robinson who finds it hard to get his head round the fact that, by the time his suspension is over, Sheppard will have been ruled out of 14 games.

What makes it worse is that the former Bashley midfielder was sent off for dissent after the final whistle in Linnets' 5-1 FA Cup defeat at Salisbury City in October - and he didn't even know!

Robinson said: "The referee didn't even show Jimmy the red card, he just put it in. Jimmy got 35 days to run concurrently with seven days for five bookings.

"It's so unfair for clubs at our level to be punished with day bans when we're competing against bigger teams in the FA Cup.

"If Salisbury had had a player sent off that day, he would have missed three games, but we're being punished for having a successful cup run.

"The more fixtures you have, the more you expose yourselves to suspect referees.

"And because we did so well in the FA Cup and Vase we've been playing continually midweek and Saturdays since early February, which means Jimmy has missed more games.

"All we want is a relatively level playing field when we're playing against higher clubs."

Robinson must also go back to Testwood Park without ex-Stags striker Michael Jackson and defender Michael King, who have pledged allegiance to Hampshire Leaguers Mottisfont.