US Portsmouth rue Lamin Jatta’s ‘very soft’ dismissal in 'hammer blow' stoppage-time Wessex Premier loss at Bemerton

US Portsmouth's Lamin Jatta was sent off in his side's 3-2 loss at Bemerton Heath. Picture: Keith Woodland

The striker was dismissed on 65 minutes after picking up his second booking of the Wessex League Premier Division fixture at Moon Park.

The visitors found themselves under ‘relentless’ pressure after that, culminating in sub Josh Bertie scoring a 92nd minute winner to seal a 3-2 success.

It was the British Virgin Islands international’s first goal for the Salisbury club.

USP boss Fraser Quirke said: ‘It was a very, very soft second yellow card, it looked very innocuous.

‘We were very much fighting a rearguard action after that.

‘We were content to take the point but they (Bemerton) were relentless, they just ground us down.

‘It was massively, massively disappointing, a really tough one to take.

‘I suppose that’s football but it doesn’t make it any easier, it was a real hammer blow.’

In the only Premier game on grass to survive the wet weather, Bemerton opened the scoring when top scorer Reece Rusher cut in and scored with a low shot.

USP levelled when Jatta’s low cross was turned into his own net by Kane O’Keefe. And they were ahead when good work between Brodie Spencer and Jatta ended with the latter setting up Danny Burroughs to score.

At that point, Bemerton were facing their first home league defeat of the season.

But Heath levelled 10 minutes into the second half when Tyler Burns was adjudged to have fouled Rusher in the penalty area. Greg Peel did the rest from 12 yards.

‘Tyler was adamant their lad had fouled him, it was a clever bit of play by their player and the ref bought it,’ said Quirke. ‘That gave them the boost they needed.’

The USP boss added: ‘All 15 of my players were brilliant in the way they applied themselves and followed the plan. It felt like we were absolutely robbed to come away with nothing.’

USP’s defeat leaves them eight points ahead of second-bottom Pagham, who have four matches in hand.

USP are away again on Tuesday, a PO postcode derby trip to Portsea Island neighbours Baffins Milton Rovers.

While USP have played three league games already in 2023, Baffins’ last Wessex fixture was back on December 17.