Forest boss Hughton accepts red card but felt there was no malice in Ioannou's challenge

Nottingham Forest boss Chris Hughton didn't have any complaints over the decision to send off defender Nicholas Ioannou during last night's 1-1 draw at Luton Town.

The Cypriot received a straight red from referee Tim Robinson for a lunging challenge on Hatters defender Martin Cranie in the closing stages of the first half.

Hughton didn't think there was any intent in the tackle from his player though, saying: "I have seen it again, there was no doubt that Nic, in his endeavours to play the ball, does roll over the top of the ball.

“I don’t have any complaints with it.

“My only thoughts on it are, from what I see, I can’t imagine the referee would have got that good a view on it and the linesman was a fair bit away.

“Whether he was influenced by the reaction of the Luton players, I don’t know.

“But I don’t have any problems with the sending off, just the manner of it.

“When you see it, there’s no malice in what he’s done, absolutely not.

“It was a clear attempt to win the ball, and one that he’s just misjudged slightly.

“But I’m absolutely convinced there’s no malice in there.”

Town boss Nathan Jones was of the same opinion, while he also felt that his side were denied a first half penalty after James Collins' close-range attempt appeared to hit a defender's arm.

He added: "Yes, (it was) a definite red, over the top of the ball and one of those things.

“There was also another pen, I think it’s been confirmed, his arm is in an unnatural position, it hit him, so we’re a little bit disappointed with that.

"We’re disappointed with the second half performance, but there’s a lot of positive to take from the first half as it was a very good performance against a very organised side.

"I've done a million interviews about Chris Hughton’s sides and about how difficult they are to beat and so on, and that’s true."