Hatters in the dark over McNulty’s red card

Steve McNulty tangles with Southport defender Luke George

The skipper was dismissed early in the second half after what looked like an innocuous tussle with home defender Luke George.

When asked if he knew what the decision was for, Still said: “No. To be fair, it was an Arsene Wenger moment because I didn’t see it, but I asked on the bench and no-one saw it.

“When Steve came off, I don’t think he argued with anyone, he just came off.

“There was an incident before that with him and someone else where I felt he should have walked away from that, so until I speak to him and what it shows on the DVD, I don’t know, I’ll have to speak to Steve about that one.

“It is hard to win with 11, we weren’t playing well enough at the time to win with 11. It became harder with 10, although we actually made a better go of it with 10.”

Midfielder Luke Guttridge was also unsure of exactly why McNulty had been dismissed as he said: “I haven’t really spoken to anyone or asked anyone.

“Sometimes when these incidents happen, it’s best to let it simmer down as it was a disappointing day and there’s no point making it worse than it is.

“From the angle I had, it just looked like a coming together and if you said to me what did he give it for, I wouldn’t know.

“If it was anything, I would say the actual challenge because it looked like they came together and you get these little niggles, but no-one kicked out, no-one elbowed.

“That’s football though. Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they go against you.”

Boss Still also couldn’t understand why the hosts weren’t reduced to 10 men when George brought down Andre Gray for a penalty later in the game, although Shaun Whalley spurned the opportunity.

He added: “He should have been sent off I’ve got no doubt about that, but he wasn’t.

“He was the last man, he wasn’t in a wide position, but I can only control the controllables.

“It was disappointing, but it doesn’t matter.”

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