Nolan explains why he was booked at half-time of Charlton Athletic draw - and what upset him so much

Cameron McGeehan squares up to former Cobbler Lloyd Jones at the end of Friday's gameCameron McGeehan squares up to former Cobbler Lloyd Jones at the end of Friday's game
Cameron McGeehan squares up to former Cobbler Lloyd Jones at the end of Friday's game
Kevin Nolan held his hands up and admitted he wasn’t aware of the rule that forbids managers from confronting referees at half-time after he received a caution during Friday’s 2-1 defeat at Charlton.

Nolan, clearly upset about something, headed straight over to referee Ollie Yates when the half-time whistle blew at The Valley, later revealing he unhappy with the treatment of goalkeeper Lee Burge towards the end of the first half.

"It was at the end of the first half,” explained Nolan. “Our goalkeeper has gone to get the ball to take a goal-kick. The ball is 20 yards from the goal and he’s done exactly the same thing for the whole of the half but all of a sudden the referee is telling him to hurry up.

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"I don’t get it. I just don’t get it with referees. They have to take control in those moments and be clear and not get impacted by the crowd or by players. I spoke to him at half-time but I must admit I didn't know I wasn’t allowed to do that.

"That was my fault to go up to him but it is what it is. I’m going to back these lads to the hilt and when I think there's something I need to say, I’ll say it. I just wanted to get it off my chest and say it to him there and then. I didn’t want an argument. It was more of a conversation to say that I didn’t agree.”

Nevertheless, whilst generally happy with the performance, Nolan admitted his side only had themselves to blame for failing to score when on top and then conceding a ‘sloppy’ goal that proved decisive.

"Those are the moments, when you're on top in a game, that you have to make the most of,” he added. “We had a 20, 25 minute spell in the second half where we spent the majority in their half and there was that bit of quality from Tyler (Roberts) and a lovely run by (Tariqe) Fosu and I don't know how it ended up going backwards.

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"If that goes in, you get momentum and you can carry on and they have to react to that. We more than matched a very good side and they were hanging on at the end but we just didn't have that little bit of cutting edge to score another goal.”

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