Brig captain Macauley Wilson is told to clean up his act after semi-final red card against Atherton Collieries

​The skipper was red carded on Wednesday night for a reckless challenge against Atherton Collieries in the LFA Challenge Trophy semi-final at the County Ground in Leyland.

It is not the first time the key defender has been given his marching orders this season and ultimately Collieries made their numerical advantage count to reach the final.

The frustrating thing for Milligan was his team were in control of the tie after Aaron Skinner had given them a 16th minute lead.

Although Fin Sinclair-Smith had missed a penalty to double the advantage, Wilson’s dismissal five minutes before the break swung the pendulum in Collieries’ favour. They soon equalised and while Brig continued to push forward in the second half, they were eventually undone by Matty Thomson’s 85th minute winner.

"The missed penalty and then the sending off completely changed the game,” Milligan said.

"We were 1-0 up and cruising. Fin's penalty hits the post and comes back out to one of their players. Then Macca gets sent off for a stupid tackle. There was no need to do it.

"It’s not the first time he has been sent off this season and as the club skipper, it’s not good enough.

"But he was gutted after the game because he had let his team-mates down – it’s gone now.”

Wilson will not be suspended for Brig’s final seven league games of the season, starting with the trip to strugglers Nantwich this weekend.

Last week’s 2-1 success over Whitby Town moved them up for fourth in the table, just a point behind second-placed Radcliffe. "It’s going to be a tough game,” said Milligan. “They have got a new manager in Paul Carden and they will be doing their best to stay up and spoil it for us.”

Veteran defender Nathan Pond will miss this weekend’s clash as he is away on international duty with Montserrat who CONCACAF Nations League fixtures against Haiti and Guyana.

NWC Fixtures: Garstang v AFC Blackpool (tonight), AFC Liverpool v Burscough, Ashton Athletic v Charnock Richard, Barnoldswick Town v Longridge Town,Bury AFC v Kendal Town, Euxton Villa v Steeton.