Rotherham United's blast over Alex MacDonald dismissal against Mansfield Town
NUMBER two Paul Raynor has hit out at the red card that saw Rotherham United reduced to ten men in tonight's Bristol Street Motors Trophy clash at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
Right-back Alex MacDonald was given his marching orders in the 70th minute of a 2-0 group-stage victory over Mansfield Town for a tackle on Hiram Boateng.
Raynor, having watched the incident back on video, says that referee Scott Jackson got the decision wrong.
“Alex wins a 50:50,” he said. “The referee, I'm sure, will say it's a high challenge and he follows through.
“We've looked at the video. It looked like a good, solid, hard challenge. If the ref deemed it anything more than that, it's only a yellow. It's a strong challenge, definitely not a red for me.”
A straight red was brandished, which means MacDonald incurs a three-match ban.
Raynor assumed media duties in the absence of manager Steve Evans who watched proceedings from the directors' box in the West Stand as he served a one-match touchline ban.
A goal in each half from Jordan Hugill won the contest for Rotherham who held off late Stags pressure once they went down to ten men.
The assistant boss felt that Town centre-half Stephen McLaughlin should have been sent off before the break when he prevented new boy Mallik Wilks, who showed up well at times on his first start, from going through on goal and received a booking.
“There should definitely have been a red card," he said. “It was a clear scoring opportunity. The referee has a different opinion to us on that. We had the benefit of watching it back on video and if that's not a scoring opportunity I don't know what is. That was disappointing.”
Shaun McWilliams came off late on in the tie and looked to be in discomfort but Raynor confirmed that the midfielder's only issue was “fatigue”.
After the goalless League One draw for the Millers against Bristol Rovers last Saturday when 20 goal attempts went unrewarded, Raynor was delighted to see his team hit the target this evening.
“It was a gritty performance,” he said. “Mansfield controlled the game in terms of possession for large periods but we always looked dangerous on the counter-attack.
“As opposed to the weekend, we took two good chances and it was nice to see Jordan convert both of them.
“We looked really solid. It was a good defensive performance and we limited Mansfield to very few clear-cut chances.
“Could we have done better with the ball? Definitely in the first period. It was backs-to-the wall stuff in the last 20 minutes after the red card for Alex.”