Shambles ends in red card

It was a casual offer to ref a couple of friendlies for my local village as I get used to refereeing again after a year-long lay-off.

But even I was surprised when I turned up at a local sports ground - which has excellent facilities - to find everyone changing behind one of the goals. No-one was willing to cough up the cash for changing rooms or even the cost of playing on one of the usual pitches.
Instead, the game was played on a kids' pitch, probably 70-80 yards long and not much more than 40 yards wide.
I sighed and blew the whistle.
The cramped conditions forced the players into a frantic game of one-touch, but it was uneventful as far as refereeing goes, until a couple of minutes from the end. I'd noticed that the away striker had found himself offside several times. He was either breaking too early or his midfield was holding on to the ball for too long.
But the club assistant running the line was doing an excellent job. I could see that his decisions were good. he waved play on several times against his own club, always a good sign at this level of football. But the striker grumbled away throughout the match.
two minutes from the end of the inconsequential friendly, with the score 1-1, the striker was flagged again. This time, he let rip at the linesman; "you f***ing cheating c***," he said, loudly enough for me to hear easily from 25 yards away.
"Rightio," I told him, "You're off," and showed him the red card. Off he went, grumbling away. Protests were muted, apart from one defender who sought to excuse the language by saying that at least he hadn't shouted it out!
Referees are really reliant on the good faith of players during friendlies at this level. These games have no official status and it would be very difficult for  a league to discipline players for such games. But I always tell managers that I'm reffing according to the laws, no different behaviour because of the circumstances.
But it;s the first time in 12 years that I've shown a red in a friendly.