WORCESTER City manager Richard Dryden felt the referee contributed to the scenes which marred the 2-2 draw at Hampton and Richmond.

Both sides were reduced to 10 men and there was a flurry of late bookings in a fiercely contested match at the Beveree Stadium.

But Dryden was less than impressed with the way referee Anthony Coggins handled the situation and reckons the official frustrated the players and managers.

He said: “We are two sides who will go and compete and I don’t know who chooses the referee but I think you need a referee who can handle it. It’s not a big occasion, it’s a Conference South game but I wasn’t sure who was bossing the game.

“Things needed to be stamped on. So many things were let go and people got frustrated and it was going to boil over. It wasn’t just us, it was them and to be fair it was the benches as well. Everybody was getting frustrated with certain people’s performances.

“I haven’t talked about referees for a long time but we’ve had certain people once or twice refereeing us and I’m yet to be impressed.”

Of the Elvins red card, Dryden said: “It was definitely a booking, whether he’s caught him or not, but the worrying thing was everyone knew the referee was going to send him off. It was not a sending off and the reaction from Dean Wells, who is a good pro, has got him sent off.”

Louis Bridges replaced Matt Dinsmore with six minutes left and scored a last-gasp equaliser to move City up to 17th in Blue Square South.

“When you’re 2-1 down with a minute left of nor-mal time, I think any manager would take a point, which we did, and again Louis has come off the bench and affected the game,” Dryden said.

“But the goals we conceded were poor. The first one we just turned off for a quick free-kick, which is bad enough, and then we turned off for a set play.

“It was very naive, whether it’s the first minute or the 90th-minute we haven’t tuned in and that hasn’t been like us defensively. It’s almost a shock at the moment when we concede a goal because we look solid and strong but the two goals could easily have been averted.

“In open play we looked solid, we looked great going forward but the goals we conceded were poor. It’s a bittersweet draw.

“We created a lot of chances but it’s the same old story, missing good chances.”

Bridges has now scored three goals for Worcester this season and Dryden admits he is giving him food for thought when it comes to a starting place.

The manager said: “He keeps pushing for a place, he’s only a young lad so we have to rest him but he’s knocking on my door again wanting to play.

“I’m impressed by him all the time. I felt the Telford away game was probably a little bit big for him after the game against Dover when he looked tired. But he was unlucky not to start against Telford at our place and if that’s down to me I apologise.”