Steve Davis pleased to have his number one goalkeeper available after red card overturned.

Steve Davis is pleased that he has his number one goalkeeper Ben Garratt is available for this weekend’s trip to Bradford City after the red card he suffered against Eastleigh was rescinded by the Independent Regulatory Commission on Tuesday.

Garratt was wrongly sent-off in our 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Eastleigh as he rushed from his goal to face Yemi Odubade. The Eastleigh forward appeared to kick Garratt’s shins rather than the over way round and he never had real control of the ball to make it an obvious goalscoring opportunity. The covering Ben Nugent would have got to the ball first to clear and the Independent Panel agreed with our observations.

Steve told crewealex.net: “I thought it was harsh at the time and when we watched it back we could all see it was more than that. I didn’t think it was a red card and Ben just came out of his goal and stood there. The lad seemed to make sure he was going over his leg and went down far too easily. He didn’t have control of the ball and we had defenders covering.

“It was good on one hand to get a positive reply and to have Ben available for the weekend, but it still doesn’t take away the fact that it was hindered us from getting a win or a replay with 11 players on the pitch and still being in the FA Cup.

He added: “It was a poor decision from the referee and that is why we appealed because we thought we had a strong case and so it proved. There is not a lot we can do about it now apart from hoping that the officials on the day learn from the mistake because these decisions can make all the difference.”