Evans: I’m sorry for my red card
By Mark Currie, Daily Post
15 DECEMBER 2006
WREXHAM
defender Steve Evans yesterday broke his silence on last Saturday’s “moment of
madness” which saw him sent off and subsequently hit by a four-match ban.
The 27-year old centre-back was shown a straight red card after 22 minutes of
the game at Boston United after he lashed out at opponent Drewe Broughton in
retaliation for a reckless challenge by the home side’s striker.
And the automatic three-match ban he incurred was extended because Evans had
previously been sent off this season, when he received two yellow cards in the
derby with Chester City at the Deva Stadium.
Now sidelined until New Year’s Day, Evans said: “I am absolutely gutted and I’m
very disappointed with myself because I have let down the manager, all the other
players and the fans and I want to apologise to everyone.
“I believe I’ve been having a half-decent season up to now and what happened on
Saturday was a moment of madness. Even now I can’t explain what made me do it
because, to be fair, it’s totally out of character.
“I don’t normally do things like that and in the face of provocation I have
tended to pick myself up and just get on with the game.
“Even though I was the victim of a very bad challenge – which I know is no
excuse – it was my reaction that captured the attention of the referee and
deflected it away from their lad, who was only booked.
“I haven’t seen any television replays, but everyone who has says he should have
been sent off as well, so it’s been a very hard lesson for me and one which I
aim to learn from.”
The ban takes effect from tomorrow, meaning Evans will miss all of Wrexham’s
Christmas games and leaves manager Denis Smith with a huge gap to fill in a side
battling against being drawn into a relegation dogfight.
“It’s a busy period coming up and hopefully the lads will get the results we
need,” added Evans. “I never like missing matches for any reason and the fact
that this spell is self-inflicted makes it all the harder.
“But I’ve got to get on with it, which means not brooding about what has
happened but working as hard as I can in training, particularly over Christmas,
so that when I’m allowed to play again I will come back raring to go.”
The defensive dilemma ahead of tomorrow’s visit by league leaders Walsall to the
Racecourse is another unwanted problem for Dragons boss Smith, who will also be
without key midfielder Mark Jones and is sweating on the fitness of striker
Kevin Smith.
“Kevin’s chances look bleaker this morning than they did yesterday,” he
admitted. “But we’ll have a look in the morning before deciding whether we
possibly need to try and change the system.
“Lee McEvilly has trained again, but he’s only fit enough for the bench, and we
can’t keep complaining about the injury problems.”