CANVEY Island boss Danny Heale condemned the performance of the referee after he sent off two of his players in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw against Leatherhead.

Tambeson Eyong and Jay Cur-ran were sent off for the Gulls and Heale said he could not believe what he was seeing from the man in the middle, Elliott Kaye.

Eyong was sent off for a 50/50 tackle and Curran was dismissed in added-time for a second yellow card – with the referee deeming him to have dived in the box.

“I have never seen anything like it in all my days,” said Heale (pictured right). “He must have been watching another game. Tam’s was just not a red card. He has slid in and won the ball cleanly and it is the noise of the shin-pads hitting that has made the referee’s mind up for him.

“Then their lad has got up and scored the equaliser. And I hear Curran may have been clipped but he is not one to dive.”

The red cards took the Gulls’ count up to five in their last five matches – with Curran sent off in successive games and Anthony Thomas and Victor Osobu also dismissed.

And Heale felt the red card for Eyong, which came minutes into the second half, changed the game completely.

“We were in control. We were creating chances and looked dangerous but that red card meant we were on the back foot straight away. There wasn’t a bad tackle in the entire match and it ruined the game.”

However, Heale said he was unlikely to appeal Eyong’s dismissal, as he felt the FA would not overturn the decision.

The Leatherhead equaliser came after a long range shot went through Melvin Minter’s gloves and into the net and Heale says goalkeeping errors are costing his side vital points.

Danzelle St Louis-Hamilton, who made a hat-trick of errors against Maidstone United last month, has paid the price for his displays and been released by the club.

And Heale said his men between the posts need to improve, while revealing another keeper will be joining Canvey in the coming days.

“We can’t keep making mistakes like that,” said the Gulls manager. “We have dropped so many points from winning positions because of basic errors and it is not good enough.”