THERE were no shortage of talking points as nine-man Cefn Druids suffered a 2-1 defeat at Cardiff Met, who were without manager Christian Edwards.

Former Swansea City and Nottingham Forest defender Edwards was taken to hospital after suffering a suspected heart attack during training on Thursday night.

And his absence from the home side’s dugout cast a shadow over the game with Druids’ sporting director Huw Griffiths saying: “We’ve exchanged a few texts and he’s lost none of his humour.

“He sent me a lovely message before the game just saying he was tired. He stopped short of wishing me luck for the game, which is understandable!

“It was a shock to everyone and everyone associated with Cefn Druids hopes he makes a speedy recovery and his family are coping.”

Edwards’ son, Isaac, has become something of an internet sensation after he was filmed taking the post-match team talk after an eventful 90 minutes.

Joe Edwards’ own goal gave Druids the lead inside 60 seconds, but Chris Baker and Eliot Evans scored in either half to win it for the Archers, who took control of sixth place with victory.

But the game turned on the decision by referee Gavin Townsend to show Mike Pritchard a straight red card.

Griffiths said: “The referee was poor in the first-half for Cardiff Met and it was a horrific performance in the second-half.

“It’s never, ever been a sending off for Pritch, even Emlyn Lewis, who was involved in the incident said it wasn’t.

“We were told it was due to a straight leg stud up challenge, but Emlyn said he has headed Pritch’s boot.

“That decision magnifies everything else and I thought we would have been good for a point before the sending off.”

Things went from bad to worse for Druids, who saw Zimbabwe international Alec Mudimu, pictured, miss a penalty before he was dismissed for a “lunge”.

“I can’t defend Alec, it’s a sending off,” said Griffiths. “But that only came because of the events earlier in the match.

“There was very little between the two sides, but the major decisions were wrong time and time again.

“We were speaking with Cardiff Met after the game and for the first 10 minutes all we spoke about were the officials.

“It’s not just this game he has had an impact on, but with the red cards it’s going to have an impact on the next few matches as well.”

Griffiths even questioned whether Druids should have been awarded a penalty.

“If it had been given against us I’m not sure I would have been best pleased,” said Griffiths. “And the lad who gave away the penalty had already been booked, but didn’t get another yellow despite preventing a goal scoring opportunity.”

That all came after Druids had lost Tyrone Ofori and Matty Owen to injury in the warm-up.

Ofori was a doubt heading into the fixture, but Owen ended up in hospital having 16 stitches in a head wound after colliding with sports scientist Levi Challoner.

“They were doing different drills and turned to chase after loose balls and collided,” said Griffiths of the incident.

“Matty now has 16 stitches across his forehead and we lost another substitute for the game, while Levi has a bump.”

Barry Town United ended their poor run of form by beating visiting Penybont 3-0 to climb up to second place, three points behind leaders Connah’s Quay Nomads.

Clayton Green, Luke Cummings and Kayne McLaggon were on target for Gavin Chesterfield’s men.