Lincoln place Simpson on 'gardening leave' following poor results. Photo: Paul Battison

Lincoln City manager Gary Simpson vented his anger at two of the match officials following their 1-1 draw with Hereford.

Gary Simpson was not happy at the referee's decision to send off Ben Tomlinson. Photo: Paul BattisonHe criticised both match referee Jason Whiteley and fourth official Alan Marshall after the game.

“He was bad for both teams. Some of the decisions were bewildering to be honest,” he said.

Tomlinson opened the scoring just after half-time but was dismissed following a tackle on Hereford right-back Daniel Leadbitter.

However, Simpson felt the decision was unfair as he believed the forward had not injured his opponent. He also said that in his opinion, the incident was no worse than another one that had taken place in the game involving Luke Foster and a Hereford player.

He added: “The referee sees it, he [Tomlinson] has gone in and got the ball but he’s gone in straight-legged and I appreciate that. He’s not hurt the kid, the kid’s got up.

“The fourth official clearly looking straight at it [the incident involving Foster] absolutely bottled it. He said ‘I’m not sure whether he’s caught him’.

“Tommo hadn’t caught him but the intent’s there which is why he got sent off but what’s the difference? It’s absolutely unbelievable to be honest.”

Lincoln were just minutes from three points but Frankie Artus levelled the scores with the final whistle looming.

“We were edgy, the supporters were edgy and everyone was edgy. We got the goal and we might have added to that to be fair,” Simpson continued.

“We had our backs against the wall for the last six or seven minutes. I’m pleased we stopped the rot in the two defeats we’d had, conceding a lot of goals but I’m obviously disappointed we didn’t win the game.”

Lincoln City’s next match is against Stalybridge Celtic in the FA Trophy on Saturday, November 30th.