They might not like the decision but Ben Rhydding have decided to take the dismissal of former England under-21 international goalkeeper Dave Carter on the chin.

The Ben Rhydding shot-stopper was controversially dismissed during the 6-1 defeat by visitors Wakefield in the North Men’s Premier Division on Saturday, October 22.

Carter received an automatic 16-day unappealable suspension for the red card and isn’t available for his club until after this weekend, when Ben Rhydding have two matches.

They are at home to the University of Durham second team on Saturday (1.30) and travel to Formby on Sunday (12.30).

Talking of Carter’s dismissal, Ben Rhydding Hockey Club president Robin Snook said: “It was a very unfortunate incident but we didn’t think the right officials were appointed to a game of that magnitude.

“We feel that the collision was 50-50 and that Dave’s sole intention in coming out was to try and kick the ball away.

“We have looked at the video and are certain of that but we also had many other decisions that didn’t go our way.

“We didn’t play last weekend because we had players in a Junior Regional Performance Centre weekend at Cannock.

“These are the trials from which the England under-18s and under-16s teams are chosen, and league rules say we must play the postponed match as quickly as possible.”

Unfortunately for Ben Rhydding, their key under-18 players Sam French and Dave Swarbrick are both injury doubts, French because of his knee and Swarbrick because of a hip.

Ben Rhydding’s men began the league season with a 2-0 home victory over University of Leeds first team and followed that with a 4-3 win at Timperley.

The Ilkley club then had a 6-3 home defeat to Bowdon’s second team, a 4-1 setback at Sheffield University Bankers and the incident-packed 6-1 home defeat against Wakefield.

“It is going to be difficult for us to get promotion now, having had three defeats, but we’ll reassess our goals after this weekend and reset our focus,” confessed Snook. “We’ll still try and finish as high as possible.”