Opposition view: Leyton Orient boss Wellens admits red card was 'harsh' - but feels it hurt his side during Cobblers draw

Leyton Orient manager Richie Wellens admitted Ben Fox’s red card was ‘harsh’ but he felt it may have had a detrimental impact on his side during their 0-0 draw with Northampton at Brisbane Road on Saturday.

After a goalless first-half, the Cobblers suffered a huge setback when Fox was shown a straight red card moments after half-time. He won the ball in a challenge with Craig Clay but referee Ollie Yates had no hesitation in sending the midfielder for an early bath.

Despite that though, Northampton defended valiantly for the remaining 40 minutes and deservedly came away from the capital with a valuable point.

"I thought it was harsh,” said Wellens on the red card. “I didn’t see it at the time but I have watched it back. He probably went over the top of Craig a little bit but he’s won the ball and I would be very disappointed if my player was sent off for that.

“Our supporters and our bench were quite happy when he got sent off but I didn’t feel the game needed to change from our point of view. We were the more dominant team and looked more likely to score.

"They were positive and had come to win the game but the red card changes people’s mindset because we feel we have to win the game and it gives them something to defend.

"I thought in the first 10 minutes we played a bit in front of Northampton. They were quite aggressive and and they were the better team.

"But for the next 40 minutes, until the sending off, I thought there was only one team in it and we should have scored goals. We were on the front foot and aggressive and it was a really good team performance.

"But our mindset changed when they went down to 10 men. They had something to hold onto and could have caught us on the counter-attack but we need to be better in the final third and move the ball quicker and create chances.

"The overall performance was positive but we should have won the game. There’s a lot of frustration because we got into the right areas and didn’t execute the final pass, but Northampton will be right up there at the end of the season and they haven’t made up any ground on us.”