Town boss Mick McCarthy felt Jonathan Douglas’s tackle which led to his red card was harsh and changed the game as the Blues lost 3-0 at Birmingham City.
Douglas, who will be banned for three games, was dismissed in first-half injury time for a studs-high challenge on Will Buckley, who earlier had fouled Jonas Knudsen in a challenge McCarthy felt was comparable to the Blues’ midfielder’s.
"I thought Birmingham played well,” McCarthy said. "I thought the game was fairly even up until the sending off which changes the course of it, of course. I think the tackle looked worse than it was. I don’t think it’s a sending off.
The Town boss says he’s not ruling out an appeal: "We’ll see. He [the referee] said he jumped in with two feet, he didn’t. He went in with his foot high but I thought he almost pulled out of it. I don’t think he made any contact. It looked worse than it was.
"I think it was harsh. And I don’t want the other fella punished either, Will Buckley had a tackle on our left-back in the first half, they’re clearing it up the line and he goes in.
"I don’t want him sent off but I just can’t see the justice in the two of them and Ryan Fraser got kicked in the head at the edge of the six-yard box [towards the end]. It’s not a penalty but, wow, it’s a freekick.
"So, that’s not going to affect the game because we were 3-0 down but the sending off [did].
"I thought before half-time ‘All right, so they’ve scored, we could have scored, it was 1-0, we’ll change it around at half-time and we’ll get something’, but 10 men just [changed it].
"At half-time I wasn’t going in unhappy, at 1-0 I was thinking ‘That’s OK, somebody’s going to score in the game, maybe’ and they got their goal. But it changes it completely.
"I thought we were great in the second half, I thought our lads were brilliant and we had some great chances, but we were outdone by two complete and utter bombshells, which were fabulous strikes.
"There wasn’t a lot we could do about the shots. They hit those two and they come not very often in a season but unfortunately they came against us.”
He added: "It’s an even game and the sending off’s changed it. The scoreline of 3-0 looks like we’ve been slapped and we haven’t really been slapped at all. Even with 10 men we haven’t been slapped.”
McCarthy singled out man of the match Ryan Fraser for praise: "Fraser’s brilliant, he’s a really top class player.”
Winger Tommy Oar left the club yesterday having failed to settle following his move from FC Utrecht in Holland in the summer, but the Town boss says that’s not made a difference to his plans between now and the transfer window closing a week on Monday.
"Not really,” he continued. "Larsen’s back and is fit and Tabby’s here and he’s played on the left.
"I have to say, Tabby’s not Tommy Oar in terms of what he can do, but in fairness Tabby’s been more successful on the left than Tommy Oar was while he was here.
"He didn’t rip it up. I’m disappointed that he didn’t see it out but, you know what, if somebody’s unhappy, is finding it hard to play and wants to leave in my book, what’s the point in me trying to keep him? Unless we’d paid a million for him, but there are none of them in the team.”
Birmingham manager Gary Rowett says he plans to add to his team from a position of strength and McCarthy didn’t completely rule out making additions himself.
"If we could, it all depends on who is available,” he said. "I don’t know whether Gary got lucky with Jacques Maghoma being injured and he could put him straight in the team. Sod’s law, we’ve had a few of them who have made their debut and scored against us.
"But it does help when you can play them because you bring Will Buckley in and you otherwise keep the same team and you win. If they’d have won again and they don’t get in the team. That’s the dilemma [with loan players].”
The Town boss was delighted to have extended his contract until 2018 with an option for a further two years, and paid tribute to the Blues’ support at St Andrew’s.
"That’s nice, it’s great,” he added. "And we had great support today, it was fabulous and I’m appreciative of that. We’ve had a bad result today but things are going well for us, we’re OK.
"There are 18 games to play and we’ve all had ups and downs. It’s Birmingham’s day today, it’ll be our day another day.
"I’m not coming away from here thinking we were dreadful and we weren’t competitive, in fact quite the opposite. Circumstances have tarnished the result but not the performance, I think.”
Birmingham boss Gary Rowett felt it was a tough match, despite the scoreline: "It was a difficult game, one or two moments, one or two decisions can change the course of it.
"Fortunately they went for us and we got the win. It’s another really, really encouraging performance.
He added: "I felt we probably just shaded the first half in terms of chances and shots and play.
"In the second half, of course, we’d had the fortune with the sending off. Probably fortune is the wrong choice of word, but I wasn’t sure whether it was a sending off.
"It didn’t look a great challenge but I couldn’t quite tell from where I was the real ferocity or danger of it. But we got a little bit of fortune with that.”