WHAT a difference a week can make for a player.

Eight days ago, Adam ‘Taz’ Roberts was the toast of Winchester City, netting a wind-assisted winner against Shortwood United.

But yesterday the hero became the villain as he was red-carded for a late tackle with ten minutes remaining of an uneventful 0-0 draw at home to Tiverton Town in the Southern One South & West.

Unusually for City, they created precious few chances, while Tiverton’s best effort was a first-half Steve Kingdon strike that hit the underside of the crossbar and was gathered by ’keeper Brendan Norris on the line.

Although manager Paul Masters would be the first to admit City were not at their best, he took comfort in still getting something out of the game and hanging onto third spot.

“We were below-par to be honest, but we got away with a point,” he said.

“Over the last two months we’ve been brilliant and there’s always going to be one game where you don’t perform.

“But to play like that and still get a point, you can’t do much more.”

Of Roberts’ tackle on Tivvy’s Ethan Phillips, Masters added: “It was a bit late, but modern-day players tend to scream and shout at referees and I think they got him sent off.

“Taz got a red card a few weeks back and we’ll probably lose him for five games now.

“Taz is a skilful player, but he’s also hard-working and he’s got that edge to his game that we wouldn’t want to take away from him, but we’re going to miss him.”

Sydenhams Wessex outfit Blackfield & Langley have lodged notice of approach for Winchester frontman/wideman Dan Cann, who had a spell at Gang Warily last season.

“I want to keep Dan, but I don’t think we can match their financial package,” Masters explained.

“Dan’s not been playing much where we’ve gone with Matt Benham – plus, it’s more difficult for him now with Micky Hubbard going (to Lymington Town) because they used to travel up together from the Bournemouth/Poole area.”