Dover Athletic boss Mitch Brundle defends teenage midfielder Henry Young after his sending off in 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Eastleigh

Manager Mitch Brundle has defended Henry Young after the teenager was red-carded in Dover’s FA Cup defeat.

Whites were knocked out in the Fourth Qualifying Round, beaten 1-0 at National League Eastleigh last weekend.

To make matters worse, 18-year-old Young was sent off in the latter stages for a challenge on fellow midfielder Jake Taylor.

But Brundle, himself not 29 until December, said: “He’s a young player.

“These little situations in games will happen. You can’t put young lads in and expect everything to be perfect and rosy all the time.

“There’s going to be situations where they do get sent off, they do make a mistake for a goal or give away a penalty.

“It’s just about how they react. They know they have fully got my backing.

“Obviously, I know the tackle wasn’t malicious and he hasn’t done it on purpose.

“It was a heat-of-the-moment tackle.

“It’s a learning curve for him and gives an opportunity for someone else to come in and play.

“He’ll be done for three games now. That’s something he didn’t want but we can work with it.

“We’re going to have these spells throughout the season.”

Eastleigh have made a decent start and are on the fringes of the National League play-offs - but early-season National League South strugglers Dover made a good fist of it against them.

“We gave it a good go,” reflected Brundle.

“Obviously, late on, we threw everything at it. But we’re a very young team and we held our own against a top National League side.

“Their front three is, arguably, one of the best in that league and we limited them to few chances.

“They were always going to have some chances.

“We were hoping - with the excitement of the FA Cup - that one of our late chances could have fallen in and got us a replay.

“It wasn’t to