Pools head coach hails Louis Stephenson's strength of character following first red card of teenager's career

An up and down season for the teenager, who has been dropped, shipped out on loan twice and missed an open goal against Maidenhead on his first Pools appearance in almost six months, took another dramatic turn at the weekend when he received the first red card of his career. It was a challenging moment for Pools, who were a goal to the good and needing to win to keep their slim hopes of gatecrashing the play-offs alive, and a needless dismissal from Stephenson. The 19-year-old, who had started the last five games in succession, impressing in the absence of the injured Dan Dodds, was booked twice in the space of five minutes, with his subsequent sending off turning the tide of the game back in the home side's favour.

Based on the evidence of the opening 25 minutes, when the game was 11v11, you could make a strong case that Pools were set to continue their fine form and win for the fourth game in a row. Yet Stephenson's dismissal forced them to change their approach, while also encouraging relegation-threatened Dagenham and their boisterous home fans. Stephenson's red, therefore, was frustrating not only because it resulted from five minutes of madness from the young defender, but also because in all likelihood it cost Pools the three points.

For all it was a moment of uncharacteristic petulance which is difficult to defend, it's worth remembering that Stephenson is still a very young man with limited senior experience. While it was a glaring mistake, it is something that Stephenson, who Limbrick admitted was "devastated" after the game, will have the chance to learn from. Limbrick, who has shown a lot of faith in the teenager since he replaced Lennie Lawrence as Pools boss at the beginning of February, has hailed Stephenson's strength of character as he looks to bounce back from the latest in a long list of setbacks this season.

"He's a strong character, you saw what happened the last time he had a little setback," he told BBC Radio Tees Sport.

"He had to show a bit of resilience then - and he showed that when he came back into the team. He's done really, really well.

"It was a shame for him, I do think if we'd have had 11 men then we'd have won that game. We were the better team - and we are the better team.

"However, sometimes football throws those things at you and we have to deal with them and I thought we just about did enough to do that."

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