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Ian Evatt says ref Scott Oldham was right not to send off Amadou Bakayoko in yesterday’s 2-1 win at Doncaster Rovers.
The striker’s first-half challenge on Adam Clayton sparked furious appeals from the home players and bench but was punished only with a yellow card.
Evatt believes it was the right decision but was disappointed with the response of some of the players and one member of the Rovers coaching staff.
“For me it is not a red card,” said Evatt. “It is an innocent tackle. It is one leg, his foot is pointed towards the floor, it wasn’t high or anything like that and I just don’t want to see people trying to get players sent off.
“It is not ideal and when players surround officials and a member of their coaching staff is screaming for players to be red carded, I think it’s not acceptable.”
Tempers flared on the touchline shortly after Bakayoko’s challenge and ref Oldham came over to the touchline to speak with Evatt and try to calm the situation.
“It became heated on the sides and obviously not with the two people that I’m friendly with but with the other one. I keep saying we will fight for our own,” Evatt said.
“We won’t do anything that we feel is out of order, we want to just stick up for our own players and we felt that was yellow card tackle and the ref dealt with it well and provided a yellow card.”
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