Tranmere Rovers have secured promotion to the Football League but they definitely didn’t do things the easy way.
Rovers defender Liam Ridehalgh was sent off just 48 seconds into the National League play-off final against Boreham Wood at Wembley but his teammates bailed him out with goals at either end of the game.
Andy Cook opened the scoring for Rovers, only for Bruno Andrade to equalise for Boreham on the stroke of half-time, but James Norwood ensured that Ridehalgh would be able to sleep easy on Saturday night by scoring a late winner.
Ridelalgh was clearly fired up by the occasion as he recklessly dived into a dangerous challenge on Ricky Shakes inside the opening minute of Saturday’s game, giving referee Neil Hair no option but to produce a red card.
A red card inside a minute at Wembley! 🔴
Liam Ridehalgh is sent off after just 48 seconds and Tranmere are down to 10 men 😳 pic.twitter.com/2hMYbIfxk5
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 12, 2018
Relieved to know that his early aggression hadn’t cost his side promotion, Ridehalgh praised his teammates after the full-time whistle but dropped an F-Bomb in the process.
“The boys were fucking fantastic,” Ridehalgh said, before correcting himself.
The boys were fucking fantastic 😂 pic.twitter.com/3oQCq3guQp
— John Mothershaw (@pottersjohn) May 12, 2018
The interviewer seemingly forgave the error because emotions were obviously running high but we’re sure Ridehalgh will get an earful from his manager for making his teammates’ difficult task even more tricky with his dismissal.
