Bodmin Town manager Darren Gilbert has leaped to the defence of Glynn Hobbs, after the striker was sent off last Saturday for an alleged elbow on a Plymouth Parkway player.
Hobbs, a former Parkway favourite, was given his marching orders by Plymouth referee Lee Roberts after 35 minutes of the top-of-the-table Carlsberg South West Peninsula League clash at Bolitho Park.
Gilbert said: "When Hobbs and Jamie Bass collided, nobody in the ground suggested it was an elbow by our player. The referee didn't blow, the linesman didn't flag, and the game just carried on.
"Then somebody noticed that they had a player on the ground, the referee went over to his assistant, and, the next thing we knew, Hobbs was shown a red card.
"I don't know what the linesman said, but in my view neither he or the referee saw what happened, so how could they send him off?
"For his part, Glynn told me he didn't elbow the player, and I believe him. He has apologised to me for being sent off but insists he didn't do anything."
Bodmin will go into their last 14 games of the League campaign confident of retaining the title. That is the view of Gilbert after watching his side produce what he described as "our performance of the season" in earning a 1-1 draw at title rivals Parkway.
The stalemate kept Bodmin three points clear of Parkway, with a game in hand. Gilbert said: "We deserved the result. For me, that was our performance of the season, the best for a long time.
"There was only one team out there who showed real character and that was us.
"We can now look forward to the run-in with confidence because we proved on Saturday that we have what it takes to win the league again."
The early exit for Hobbs left Bodmin to play almost an hour with ten men. Gilbert said: "You find out all about your players when you are up against it like we were. These boys are full of character.
"We threw everything we had at them after we went 1-0 down and we were rewarded. Parkway, on the other hand, seemed to sit back on their lead. That was their best chance of beating us, but they couldn't do it."
Bodmin turn to cup-tie action tonight when they face Saltash United in a Throgmorton League Cup quarter-final at Priory Park.
Truro City fell to a 2-1 home Blue Square Bet South defeat to Weston-super-Mare last night. Barry Hayles scored a late consolation goal for the hosts, after Weston had gone two up with strikes from Naby Diallo and Kane Ingram.
