IT'S fair to say that Ilkley's head of rugby Rhys Morgan will not be sending referee Peter Stentiford a Christmas card.

The Whitby RUFC fixture secretary controversially sent off Aaron Magee midway through the first half of the Dalesmen's National League Three North derby at Sandal last Saturday.

The visitors were leading 10-8 at the time but were eventually defeated 46-13, and Morgan thought there were other puzzling decisions against his team by the whistler.

He said: "I don't normally bleat about referees but Nathan (forwards' coach) Smith and myself have gone over the video with a fine toothcomb and we feel that Aaron deserved a yellow card at worst and a penalty try concession.

"He was wrong-footed and stuck out a knee which caught their player on the leg.

"The Sandal guys on their touchline shouted 'That's got to be a yellow', so even they were surprised when it was a red card.

"We had the same referee at Billingham, when he mystifyingly gave us three yellow cards, and we must have conceded ten penalties in the first 20 minutes at Sandal and didn't know where they came from.

"Also their No 3 clearly stamped on our No 7 without being penalised. Everything was one way and he shows no compassion or understanding."

Morgan felt that knowing that they had to play for almost an hour with only 14 men then affected Ilkley's players mentally and physically.

But he also feels that he has a special group of players, adding: "They are in the gym on a training night at 6.30 and don't leave until gone 9pm.

"That is commitment, and we won't be happy finishing just above the relegation zone.

"We want to finish in the top half of the table, but we have another tough game on Saturday at home to Wirral, who were vying for promotion last season.

"Hopefully we will have Nathan back in the forwards. He had to miss out last weekend after suffering a cut just underneath the eyebrow in training but adds plenty in terms of go-forward.

"We also see playing JH Johnson at No 8 in the long-term. It was not a positional choice that was out of the blue as he has played there before during games.

"He takes some stopping and gives us flexibility if we need to switch someone into the backs."