BEN HENEGHAN insists he will learn his lesson after picking up the first red card of his career.

The Chester centre-back was shown a straight red card in his team’s miserable 5-2 defeat at Woking on Saturday for a foul on Dan Holman.

Heneghan will now face a one game suspension and admits he will learn from his mistake as Chester prepare to bounce back to winning ways without him on Saturday at Macclesfield Town.

“It was the first time I have been shown a straight red card, but I knew I was going to get sent off for what I did,” Heneghan said.

“Woking played a ball over the top and I really struggled to catch their lad, but I tried to put him off as he controlled the ball and it didn’t work.

“He ended up going over my leg and I just knew after I had made the tackle what was coming.

“It’s a big learning curve for me because it was my first red card and I plan to never let it happen again.”

Heneghan has forged a solid defensive partnership with experienced Blues skipper Ian Sharps so far this season and he revealed he had received plenty of advice in the dressing room after the match at Woking.

He added: “Everybody in the dressing room was telling me to keep my head up and to try and put the red card behind me.

“I tried to do my best in the situation I was in but in the end I got punished.

“I could have just allowed their lad to have a shot on goal, but it’s not in my nature to let any forward go past me without putting a tackle in.”

Heneghan admitted Chester had faced an uphill battle against an in form Woking side in 30 degree temperatures.

He said: “Nothing seemed to go right for us on Saturday because we arrived at the ground a bit later than we would have liked and the lads had to battle in the heat once I had been sent off.

“Everybody was disappointed that we got beat, but our performance never reflected the 5-2 scoreline.

“We knew that our unbeaten run would eventually come to an end, but it’s now important to put Saturday’s result behind us, continue to work hard, and try and put things right with two wins in three days this weekend against Macclesfield and Guiseley.”

Meanwhile, Heneghan was delighted to hear he had been short-listed for the National League Player of the Year prize at the North West Football Awards.

He added: “I’m really pleased to receive the recognition because I thought I played well last year. It would now be nice to see my family and all the Chester fans voting for me.”

Heneghan, who won three awards at last season’s Chester FC presentation evening, holds the distinction this year of being the only player nominated for the Rising Star award, but he faces opposition for the National League North West Player of the Year Award from Tom Marshall (Altrincham), George Pilkington (Macclesfield), and Luke Foster (Southport).

The North West Football Awards ceremony is being held at the Point, Emirates Old Trafford, on Monday, November 16.

Voting for all Player of the Year and Mob Sport Rising Star categories is open until Friday, October 16. 

Fans can cast their votes at: www.northwestfootballawards.com