Harpenden Town beat Kensington Borough in a match that was good, bad and plain ugly.

It was good that Harpenden went ahead after six minutes when a Charley Humberstone cross from the left was flicked on by Charlie Gould for Ben Warren to fire into the corner for 1-0.

It turned bad when Kensington equalised just three minutes later when Reanu Grossett turned a defender and placed the ball in the corner of the net.

But it turned downright ugly when first Kensington’s manager Mo El Bukkali was sent off from the bench for arguing with the referee then both their centre backs got red carded in the second half.

Harps went ahead when Charlie Gould was brought down in the box. Striker Harry Hunt had a tense five minutes wait while the ref threw the visitor’s manager out but shot confidently into the corner for 2-1.

Harpenden sealed it after 71 minutes when a Hunt corner was picked up by Sam Jenkins who headed home for 3-1.

Shortly after Kensington had no chance when they were down to nine men after a straight red for swinging a punch at Tony Golder, who was superb in defence for Town.

Manager Danny Plumb said: “Kensington are a good team but their discipline let them down.

“We managed to rise above it and the players deserve credit for that. Again we were not at our best but got the result.”

The result, Harpenden’s sixth straight success in all competitions, put them six points clear at the top of the Spartan South Midlands League Division One.

However, they face a tough test tonight against second-placed Biggleswade FC, who have four games in hand.

Kick-off at Rothamsted Park is at 7.45pm.