Blantyre Vics boss John Gibson has revealed defender Dale Jones issued an apology to the Darvel players after seeing red in the 4-0 defeat today.
Strikes from Allan MacKenzie, Craig Thomson and a Jordan Allan double were enough for the Ayrshire men in the Premier Division West of Scotland League clash.
Jones was shown a straight red after he flew into the challenge at Recreation Park in injury time to round off a tough afternoon for the Castle Park men.
Gaffer Gibson feels that the reaction of the 24-year-old was sparked by an earlier foul, but had no excuses for the tackle from the player.
He told Lanarkshire Live Sport : "It's a definite red card, but what I will say is they boy had been done on the touchline before and the referee lets it go as per usual.
"Then he gets kicked again, and it's a foul again, and he lets it go, then obviously the red mist came down on the wee man and he's had a bad tackle on the boy.
"What's important is that he at least apologised to the boy when he came off the park."
The Vics conceded three goals in the first half, including the opener after 34 seconds, and Gibson admits they gave themselves an uphill battle.
He added: "It wasn't a great start and to be 2-0 down after 10 minutes we were up against it.
"I thought after the first 20 minutes we played quite well and got back into it. The sucker punch for me was the third goal just before half time and it was an uphill battle after that.
"We lost a goal in the last minute as well and I don't think that's a true reflection on the game.
"I thought the boys had done well and there was some good performances there. We will take heart from that and move on."
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