A PETE Ayton double settled a fiery contest at Meadow Lane on Tuesday night which saw 10 players booked and Westbury's Ashley Groves sent off.

It was the second red card in ten days for the White Horse men after striker Matty Bown was dismissed at Portishead last Saturday.

Manager Paul Brickley said the referee failed to account for the greasy surface as Westbury battled valiantly with 10 men for the last 30 minutes.

Brickley said: "The referee said after the game that we were a bunch of animals but there wasn't a bad tackle out there.

"The pitch was very, very wet and he did not account for that. In my opinion the referee needs to be stronger on nights like these."

Westbury signalled their intent after 12 minutes when Paul Beavers rattled the crossbar from Groves' cross.

Two minutes later the hosts took the lead when Ayton converted Wayne Wheeler's cross with a spectacular diving header.

The first of the bookings came minutes later when a flare-up between James Dowd and Brett Gready saw both receive yellow cards. With tackles flying in from both sides the game threatened to turn ugly.

Ayton almost doubled the lead on the stroke of half time but his 30 yard free kick rebounded off the crossbar.

The straight red card for Groves after the interval baffled supporters of both teams and the hosts were forced to play the last 30 minutes with ten men.

Brickley bravely left two men up front, while Nick Beales, James Dowd, Ross Parker and Steve Seals all joined the dependable Mark Pearce for a rearguard action.

Goalkeeper Nick Evans played his part when he turned away Ross McNab's shot at his right hand post.

Wheeler saw his long range volley dip inches over the bar before Ayton sealed the points in the last minute.

The winger met Dowd's curling cross and fired into the roof of the net to complete a league double over the Somerset visitors.