Victim Adam Hammill and his boss Mark Robins both rated it a red-card offence and even Charlton chief Chris Powell called Dale Stephens’ controversial first-half challenge on the right wing-back “risky”.
But referee Stuart Attwell deemed a yellow card suitable punishment for the 28th-minute tackle which was to force Hammill out of the action soon after and led to a flare-up between both sets of players after which Town’s Anthony Gerrard and Charlton’s Michael Morrison were also cautioned.
Hammill, who has featured in every Town match so far this season, is hopeful the dead leg he suffered won’t keep him out of tomorrow’s Championship trip to Bournemouth and said: “Let’s focus on two big games (Town head to Leeds on Saturday) and get the points we need.”
Robins said: “I thought it was a red card, but the referee has a decision to make.
“I have seen the incident again and both his feet were off the ground and it doesn’t make good watching.
“But at the end of the day, we are out of the FA Cup and you can’t control what the referee does.
“I could moan all day long but it sounds like sour grapes so I will desist.”
Powell said: “When it happened, I thought it was a risky challenge, but the yellow card was down to the referee’s discretion.
“Sometimes these decisions go for you, sometimes they don’t.”
Robins admitted his side didn’t look the same after losing Hammill.
“It took the momentum from the game and affected one or two of my players,” he explained.
“I think they started to look for tackles, and there were one or two tasty ones going in.”
The boss continued: “I thought we passed the ball pretty well until Adam took that knock.
“Then in the second half, we were lacklustre.
“I don’t know if the rain slowed us down or it slowed our thinking down, but it was a case of brain freeze. We fell short, but fair play to Charlton.”
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