'Absolutely ridiculous' - Kevin Nolan raging after Lincoln City defeat

Trailing 2-0 just before the hour after goals from Ryan One and Jack Moylan, Vale was shown a straight red card by referee Kirsty Dowle for a supposedly dangerous challenge on Ben House in the Imps penalty box. Lincoln then rubbed salt into the wounds by adding two more goals.

Whilst Nolan accepted his side were outplayed at Sincil Bank and deserved to lose, he could not hide fury at the decision to send off Vale, and he was also unhappy that Oné’s 11th-minute opener was allowed to stand.

He said: "The first one is possibly offside and there’s also a certain push in the back of our player. It might be soft but nine times out of 10 it gets given but obviously the referee didn’t want to give it.

“The referee was poor throughout the night and I thought she was well out of her depth if I’m honest. The red card is absolutely ridiculous. We will appeal it but they won’t overturn it, I know they won’t, and now I’m going to lose my striker for three games.

"It’s a really, really poor decision at a critical time in the game. Nobody else would give it. The referee has gone off their shouts and screams. Nothing else. Everybody knows it. To send him off for that is incredible.

"He actually takes a shot and he gets the ball and their lad does what you would call ‘good cheating’. He’s probably not expecting a red card but they’ve all got in the referee’s face. Jack’s not that type of player and he’s just getting himself into a run of games and now he’s out for three games.”