IT’S not often there’s a near consensus that a straight red card was the right decision but at the same time there’s widespread sympathy for the player dismissed.

However, that was the case with Grant Ward’s sending-off during the 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa.

Ward wasn’t even making a challenge as such as he caught Neil Taylor with a high boot. His eyes were firmly on the ball coming over his shoulder.

But by the letter of the law, referee Simon Hooper was right to give him first use of the Wash & Go.

The incident changed what had been a well-contested game, with the Blues unfortunate to have gone behind to former Town youngster Conor Hourihane’s goal, having had the better of the game’s relatively few chances.

But once Villa had their tails up and the one-man advantage it was a stroll in the park.

Caretaker-boss Bryan Klug has been unlucky that both his games so far have ended in defeats, with the second the Blues’ heaviest at home for seven years.

At Nottingham Forest last week, Town were three minutes plus injury time away from winning when the home side were awarded the penalty from which they scored the first of their two last-gasp goals.

And then on Saturday the temporary manager and assistants Gerard Nash and Chris Hogg had Town competing with one of the division’s higher-flying and wealthier sides - Villa’s £60 million wage bill last season was more than triple Town’s - only to be scuppered by the slightly freakish red card.

While the result was a big disappointment, there were some positives to be taken from the day.

The crowd of 20,034 was the second-highest of the season and the presence of Ed Sheeran in a Town shirt brought some national publicity which wasn’t related to a pundit or current or ex-player saying ‘careful what you wish for’ in relation to former boss Mick McCarthy’s departure. The attendance was significantly boosted by a Kids for a Quid promotion covering all those under 19, while the warm weather also played its part.

There will also have been some prodigal fans back in their seats having vowed never to return until after McCarthy’s departure.

And despite the events on the pitch the atmosphere was very different than has often been the case this season, something acknowledged afterwards by Klug and some of the players.

The narrative may not yet have entirely moved on from the immediate post-McCarthy views and reviews but there is a palpable change in mood.

Owner Marcus Evans’s first on-camera interview in his ten-plus years at Town— albeit for the club’s own iFollow platform rather than with an independent journalist - was generally received positively by fans and reiterated that the appointment won’t be made before the end of the season.

He also confirmed that no magic money tree has been found in a far-flung corner of Playford Road and that the new boss will be subject to the same financial limitations as the old, while - perhaps most notably - adding that he would be willing to sell to someone with greater financial clout if such an individual emerged.

Saturday also saw keeper Bartosz Bialkowski confirmed as the Supporters’ Player of the Year for a third successive season.

The 30-year-old is the first to win three Harwich Rose Bowls on the trot and only John Wark, four, has now won more.

Sadly, it looks increasingly unlikely that the Poland international will get the chance to match Wark’s achievement with his departure in the summer appearing more and more probable with the contract which was ‘agreed’ in January remaining unsigned and only the one-year option left on his previous deal.

If the big Pole in the goal does decamp for the Premier League - Crystal Palace showed strong interest in January - then he will go down as one of the club’s best-ever keepers and fully deserving the plaudits he has received over the last three seasons.

Town play the penultimate game of the four-match Klug era at Reading on Saturday with the 19th-placed Royals having all but confirmed their Championship status.

It would be very harsh on the caretaker-boss if his time in charge ended without a win and with play-off-chasing Middlesbrough at Portman Road on the final day, the visit to the Madejski Stadium looks like his best opportunity to claim a victory.