Nottingham Forest midfielder Henri Lansbury has suggested that Newcastle United were unfortunate to see Paul Dummett sent off in the Magpies' 2-1 defeat at the City Ground on Friday night.
A breathless first half saw Rafa Benitez's side take a 1-0 lead into the break despite having Jonjo Shelvey and then Dummett sent off, with former Forest goalkeeper Karl Darlow saving both resultant penalties.
However, after Nicklas Bendtner scrambled home an equaliser early in the second half, the nine men faced an uphill battle, and Forest finally found a winner thanks to Jamaal Lascelles' inadvertent own goal four minutes from time.
Lansbury was at the centre of both dismissals. First he was on the receiving end of what looked like a kick from Shelvey whilst both players were on the ground, although he looked to have rather exaggerated his reaction.
Then, he hit the turf under a challenge from Paul Dummett in what seemed more of a coming together than a deliberate foul.
Of the Shelvey incident, Lansbury said, as quoted by Chronicle Live: "It was a clash of legs. I felt something. I felt him lash out. I’ll look back at the replays and see what happened."
Former Newcastle United striker Mick Quinn appeared to feel that Shelvey could have no complaints about seeing red, judging by his tweet on the incident.
However, the Dummett decision looked harsh, particularly given the new rules that state a last-man foul is no longer an automatic dismissal.
Lansbury admitted that he is of the same frame of mind, saying of the foul: "The new rules are a yellow card and a penalty. They’ll feel hard done by."
The defeat is Newcastle's third in the last week after the home loss to Blackburn Rovers and the EFL Cup penalty shootout exit to Hull City.