Anthony Limbrick backs "devastated" Louis Stephenson to bounce back following Dagenham red card
Hartlepool United head coach Anthony Limbrick has backed a "devastated" Louis Stephenson to bounce back following his red card against Dagenham and Redbridge.
The teenager was sent off 25 minutes into Saturday's game after picking up two yellow cards in the space of five minutes. When Stephenson was dismissed, Pools were a goal up and looking in control as they went in search of a fourth consecutive win. Indeed, Limbrick's side could have been further ahead had Mani Dieseruvwe's tame penalty not been saved by the sprawling Jake Turner in the opening exchanges.
Yet the 19-year-old's red card, inevitably, changed the momentum of the game. Although Pools still managed to maintain a goal threat and went close to a second on the stroke of half time when Turned denied the towering Billy Sass-Davies following a powerful header at the back post, the visitors were forced to change their approach, with Joe Grey operating as a makeshift wing-back before Limbrick reverted to a more defensive 4-4-1 formation. Pools had to ride their luck at times and both Josh Umerah, who spent two seasons at the Prestige Group Stadium, and influential substitute Dion Pereira struck the woodwork but it looked as though the 10 men were on the cusp of returning to the North East with all three points when defender Harry Phipps, rather fortuitously, skewed an effort off the outside of his boot and into the bottom corner three minutes from time.
On pretty much any other day and at any other stage in the season, a point at Victoria Road against a side fighting for their lives at the wrong end of the table would have seemed like a decent result given that Pools played well over an hour with 10 men. However, it was hard not to feel as though Saturday's game was something of a missed opportunity after Pools, who needed to win all of their final five games to stand a realistic chance of gatecrashing the play-offs, made such a strong start to the contest. In the end, the tide turned following Stephenson's needless dismissal.
It's been a challenging season for the young full-back, who started three of the first four matches following a strong end to the previous campaign under Kevin Phillips. However, he lost his place after a difficult afternoon against Wealdstone when he was hooked at half time and was shipped out on loan twice, spending time in the Northern Premier League at Blyth Spartans and Whitby Town. Veteran manager Lennie Lawrence suggested he felt Stephenson wasn't ready for inclusion in the first team after he replaced Darren Sarrl and the teenager found himself on the fringes of the squad after returning from his loan spells. The appointment of Anthony Limbrick, who has worked in the academies of Southampton, West Ham and Peterborough, seemed to spark new life into Stephenson, only for the youngster to endure a new low when he missed from yards out in the last minute of a frustrating draw with strugglers Maidenhead on his first senior Pools appearance in almost six months, becoming the subject of both ridicule and criticism.
Yet Stephenson has shown commendable spirit and character since then and had been impressing after regaining his place in the XI following an injury to Dan Dodds, starting the last five games in succession. While it's difficult to excuse his needless dismissal at the weekend, it's worth remembering that Stephenson is a very young man with relatively limited senior experience and Limbrick has backed him to bounce back.
"I think the second yellow was for him charging the free-kick when the ball hadn't been touched, and I think that is a yellow card," he told BBC Radio Tees Sport.
"I haven't seen it back yet, but that was what we were told.
"Hopefully it's a good lesson for him, Louis has been fantastic for us. I'm so pleased for him and how he's played.
"It was a shame that it happened, but a young player can learn from these types of mistakes and hopefully he won't make it again. He was devastated in there and I really feel for him."