CHELMSFORD City were beaten by rivals Concord Rangers in a fiery battle on Monday night.

The ten-man Clarets were undone by a first half strike from striker Lewis Taaffe and couldn’t force an equaliser, despite missing a first halfpenalty.

Taaffe scored the decisive goal after good work from Steve Cawley but the home side had a golden chance to equalise when Concord goalkeeper Aaron Lennox tripped Luke Callander.

But he saved Michael Cheek’s effort, his second penalty miss in two matches.

And the Clarets’ misery was compounded when James Love was shown a straight red card for a high tackle on Gary Ogilvie, although a replay shows Love had won the ball before he took the man.

Ogilvie hit the post for the Beachboys before Yado Mambo skied a fantastic chance to equalise at the death.

The defeat came after an impressive 2-0 win at St Albans, with Cheek and Mambo netting the Clarets’ goals.

Cheek’s early penalty miss proved not to be costly after he opened the scoring only 10 seconds into the second half.

And Mambo added a second, his first for the club, with a powerful header only four minutes after.

Chelmsford sit 15th in the Conference South and travel to Whitehawk in the FA Cup this weekend.