Ian Evatt believes that the decision to send off Ricardo Almeida Santos in Bolton Wanderers' draw against Morecambe was incorrect and cost his side points.
The League One clash at the Mazuma Stadium was suspended for 10 minutes by referee Ross Joyce following an alleged racist comment directed towards the Wanderers bench from the crowd and the players were called off the pitch as full-time approached.
Cole Stockton had previously put the hosts ahead after having his penalty saved by James Trafford as Bolton captain Santos was shown a straight red card for an alleged handball in the box.
But Wanderers rallied and during 10 extra minutes of play, substitute Amadou Bakayoko struck to earn Bolton a share of the spoils.
The decision to send off Santos appeared a soft one and Evatt said the defender had the 'biggest ball mark' on his chest and shoulder, suggesting it did not strike his arm.
Evatt admitted he was upset with the decision but admitted there were bigger things in the game which draws greater concern and that those must be dealt with, but he believes their reaction to going down to 10 men was 'first class'.
He said: “Rico has walked off with the biggest ball mark on his shoulder and chest you will ever see. Anyone can see it, the linesman, the fourth official, and all I got was ‘if I have got it wrong, I’m sorry, we will deal with it afterwards.’
“It has cost us points, me my captain, and I am upset with the decision.
"But right now there is no point going into it, there are bigger things at play than football and we must deal with them.
“Today was everything we are not, really, the conditions, the pitch, but we had to find the result and we did it.
“The decision was wrong, for me, but our reaction to what happened was first class.”
