THE nine-men of Pickering Town were defeated 2-0 by Beverley Town on Saturday.

Red cards dented Pickering's hopes of breaking their four match winless run, as both Wayne Brooksby and Connor Avison were given their marching orders.

A brace from Beverley's Cam Connelly gifted the visitors the three points, with Pickering dropping to 17th in the Northern Counties Eastern League Premier Division.

Pickering started the match brightly as Ethan Kachosa and Omar Sanyang had shots kept out, before Alfie Burnett denied Connelly.

Brooksby had a free-kick thwarted by Jonathan Dash, whilst Macauley Snelgrove had a low shot parried wide.

With half-time approaching, the visitors took the lead in an otherwise even encounter.

Luke Sellers drilled a low strike that Burnett could only temporarily keep out, as Connelly raced onto the loose ball and bundled an effort over the line.

Into the second-half, Beverley and Connelly almost had a second as Burnett produced a finger tip save, before Alex Knaggs headed narrowly wide from the resulting corner.

Kai Larkin saw another strike palmed away by Burnett, before Pickering were dealt a major blow.

A late challenge from Brooksby, followed up by some alleged dissent, saw the Pikes' captain shown a straight red card by the referee.

Just two minutes later, the referee elected to show Beverley's Ofori a red card, bring both sides down to ten players.

And soon after, the referee's influence on the match grew even stronger.

Yet another red card was shown to Pickering, this time a second yellow for Connor Avison, with the Pikes' having to finish the match with nine men.

Beverley made the most of their man advantage, as Connelly rounded off a well-worked move with a low strike past Burnett.

Glen Sani had two opportunities thwarted by Burnett in the dying minutes, but Pickering were unable to mount a comeback with Beverley worthy winners on the afternoon.

PICKERING TOWN: Burnett, Kachosa, Cass, Avison, Leyland, Dawson, Brooskby, Wood, Bauer, Sayang, Ofoegbu

Subs: Mohsen, Kelly, Brown, Lovick, Dunning