BOSS John Edwards offered “no excuses” as a first defeat since October dashed Littleton’s hopes of a place in the Worcestershire Senior Urn final.

The Ton Boys lost 3-0 at Lye Town in Tuesday’s semi-final which saw both teams play for more than an hour with 10 men.

Home captain Scott Gennard kicked out at Dave Edwards following a late challenge with the Littleton midfielder appearing to tread on his opponent’s leg as he walked away. Both received straight red cards.

Reece Shilvock had already nudged Lye into a 16th-minute lead and while the visitors enjoyed good spells with the ball after the double dismissal, Lee Chilton landed a sucker punch by beating keeper Brendon Bunn to a ball on the edge of the box and rolled in from an acute angle.

Littleton began the second half brightly but Ryan Rowe caught Simon Fitter in possession with Chilton notching on the rebound from Chris Knight’s shot to seal the deal nine minutes after the interval.

“We had chances before they scored and it was important for us to take one of those,” said Edwards. “It was a strange game, there was not a lot in it and 3-0 flattered Lye a little bit.

“Things have been a bit stop-start for us over the past few weeks with the weather and we had a few injuries to contend with but we won’t make excuses.

“It was probably the worst performance we have put in for the past three months, it wasn’t terrible but we lacked sharpness in vital areas.

“In a strange way the two red cards helped us. I thought we controlled the game for 20 minutes after that but did not quite convince in either box.

“Defensively we were not quite up to our usual standards and while we had plenty of balls across the box and half chances, we didn’t look like putting it in the net.”

On the red cards, Edwards said: “They were both warranted and fairly straightforward. We certainly could not argue with Dave’s and their lad retaliated.

“It was a bit of frustration on Dave’s part. He has been out for a while and we needed to push him back in because of other injuries.

“He found it tough in there and reacted. I will be having a word with him.”

Littleton will look to bounce back with a return to Midland League Division One action against Studley at Five Acres on Saturday (3pm).

Jordan Jones comes back into contention with George Westwood, an unused substitute on Tuesday, set to be closer to full fitness by then.

“We do miss Jordan. His energy and fitness enables us to play two in central midfield and an extra man going forward,” added Edwards.

Littleton: Bunn, Ingram, Palmer, Fitter, L Clarke, Dave Edwards, Byford (M Edwards, 62), Agar (Roche, 62), Carter (Wright, 72), Adams, Dale Edwards. Unused sub: Westwood.

Attendance: 58.