Come on ... what could the referee do but show a red card?
But Danny Simpson has backed Ryan Taylor to put his red card behind him: “You know what Ryan is – he’s never going to injure someone.
“He’s come in and wants to make an impression for the new manager. He’s gone in and tried to win the ball for the team and the fans.
“It was just unlucky. Everyone said he did well. I’m sure he’ll be back in the team after his ban.
“We could have been 2-0 or 3-0 up in the first half hour.
“We were playing some quality football.
“Obviously, it was a great goal for Kevin. If you get a second, especially at St James’s, it kills them off.
“At 1-0, they’re still in with a chance, and it was sort of a snap goal from Sturridge.
“He sort of swiped it in – I saw it go in the bottom corner. It wasn’t nice to see it go in as I’ve enjoyed keeping clean sheets.
“We could have been a couple of goals ahead.
“In the second half it was unfortunate for Ryan. He’s been out for a long time, and came in and did really well.
“Going down to 10 men it was hard, but with the character we’ve got, we hung on, and we could have won it.
“The gaffer wanted us to go and win it after Ryan was sent off.
“He wanted us to be one on one at the back, and the lads to deal with their man.
“I thought we were going to nick it. If certain decisions had gone our way, we’d have won.
“I thought he maybe should have had a penalty from where I was. That would have have been nice.
“Overall, it was a good performance. They’re a tough side to beat. If the luck goes our way, we’d have won.”