PERSHORE Town ended Saturday’s basement battle with three red cards and a 2-1 defeat to Coventry Alvis.

It had started so well for Quentin Townsend’s men who belied a nervy start to move ahead after six minutes through James Walker’s close-range header.

Town stayed on top with new strike partners Kyle Turner and Charlie Anagho-Ntamark keen to make an impression but home keeper Toby Wilcox was required to produce a point-blank save to deny Isa Abraham before half-time.

Immediately after the break, Anagho-Ntamark stormed through the Alvis back line with his shot whistling narrowly past the post and then teed up Ben Lane to fire over from close quarters.

But those missed opportunities proved decisive as the afternoon quickly nosedived for Pershore.

Aaron Xavier was given his marching orders after his push resulted in an Alvis penalty which was put away by Luke Wilson.

A defensive error then allowed Abraham to give the visitors the lead and Pershore skipper Shaun Griffiths was the next to see red for allegedly raising his hands to an opponent.

Town still looked capable of salvaging something despite being down to nine men, particularly when Alvis had Callum Swain sent off for his part in a touchline skirmish.

Any hope of a fightback got extinguished with five minutes remaining, though, as Walker picked up his second yellow card.