WATCH: Red card for punch thrown as nine-man Bonar hammered by Halkirk
A SECOND half horror show at Migdale Park resulted in another heavy loss for nine-man Bonar Bridge on Saturday.
Two red cards and two penalty kicks resulted in an 8–1 defeat to Halkirk United for Bonar, who continue their search for their first points of the season.
Despite the eventual scoreline, the Sutherland side took the lead after 21 minutes with a goal from Bruce Urquhart, and they held that advantage until eight minutes before the break, when former Wick Academy striker Steven Anderson struck to level the scores.
Halkirk took the lead just minutes before the interval thanks to a Ben Sinclair penalty kick, with goalkeeper Stuart Wilson also collecting a yellow card for the infringement.
Things for the home side quickly went from bad to worse as United piled on the pressure, and within six minutes of the restart the Anglers went 4–1 up through Kuba Koziol and Colin Henstridge.
A second penalty award, which was again converted by Sinclair, resulted in Wilson being sent for an early shower on 63 minutes.
Further goals for Halkirk, scored by Anderson and substitute Hasheem Bremner, made it 7–1 with twenty minutes to go.
Then, on 83 minutes, a moment of madness saw Bonar reduced to nine men. Scott Macdonald, who appeared to throw a punch at Halkirk United defender Conor Trueman, was shown a straight red card for his actions by referee Colin MacDonald.
Video: Picture House, Thurso.
Halkirk completed their rout with a second goal from Koziol in the final minute of the game.
Bonar Bridge manager Fraser Heath spoke of his surprise that only his player was punished after the second red card incident.
He said: "The red card was deserved as you can't be doing that, but I don't understand how their boys have escaped punishment for their involvement. I mentioned it to the referee at the time and he said he didn't see anything which is fair as he can't see it all on his own.
"The first 35 minutes were very good from us. We had the lead and we were still creating chances, but a rough few minutes completely changed the game for us and instead of going in at half time with a lead we were 2-1 behind.
"We need to cut out individual errors as its really costing us. This is another heavy defeat which comes from heads going down after errors, but I still believe it will turn around in our favour. We just have to keep digging deep and battling and it will come."
Bonar Bridge return to Macleod and MacCallum North Caledonian League action on Saturday October 15 with a home game against Inverness Athletic.
