ASSISTANT manager Ashley Vincent argued referee Minesh Gupta had got “hoodwinked” into sending off Jamie Smith at Shepshed Dynamo.

The City defender, who had returned from injury to play in Saturday’s 2-1 victory, was dismissed for denying Ryan Robbins an obvious goal scoring opportunity 10 minutes before half-time.

Gupta got surrounded by Dynamo players and eventually brandished a straight red but Vincent was quick to absolve Smith over what he felt had been nothing more than a “tangle".

And having seen Liam Lockett notch on the break to win it three minutes into added time, John Snape’s right-hand man lauded City for ensuring justice was served.

“I think we got what we deserved,” said Vincent.

“I didn’t think it should have been a red card, the referee and I had different views.

“Maybe I would have understood it if their lad had it under control but he had missed it when it came to him, the ball went through his legs.

“Jamie missed it as well and as their lad turned there was a bit of contact. He bought the free-kick, it was clever from their lad but Jamie could have done nothing about it and there was no blame attached to him.

“I thought the referee was hoodwinked into it. It was not a foul for me, it was a bit of a tangle with no deliberate obstruction.

“It was poor refereeing but I don’t want to dwell on that, I don’t want to take anything away from our lads because they were magnificent.

“As we have seen in games prior to this one, we cannot rely on officials to make the decisions all the time. We have to take the outcome out of their hands and I thought we did that.”

City had to stand up to a second-half barrage but despite shipping a late equaliser hit back through substitute Lockett, who dashed on to fellow replacement Kyonn Evans's flick-on to score.

“The lads battled with people playing out of position for the benefit of the team like Dave Reynolds who really grafted in midfield,” Vincent added.

“It was not pretty but I felt we were worthy winners. When it was 11 versus 11 we were the better side.

“As a substitute in that situation it is a nightmare. It is Groundhog Day, usually you cannot win by coming on but this time we have. Everyone was buzzing afterwards and I am really pleased for all of them.

“People will say we nicked it but we showed character. When they equalised I said the worst result we would get was a draw but the substitutes combined really well and Locko popped up with a very good goal.”