McLeish rues Nafti red card
15 Sep 2008 - 11:16:52
Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish had no complaints about the sending-off of midfielder Mehdi Nafti during the 1-0 home win over Doncaster Rovers.
Nafti was red-carded just 24 minutes into the game at St Andrew's, being dismissed for a dreadful two-footed lunge on James Coppinger which will earn him a three-match suspension.
McLeish told the club's official website: "It was a sending-off no doubt. Mehdi has been out for three weeks and he was a wee bit off the pace.
"It was two-footed. It was maybe a bit of frustration on Mehdi's part. I don't think he caught Coppinger, but it was the intent of it and the aggressive nature of it.
"I asked him at half-time what happened and he said 'I just couldn't get it, they were knocking it about and I just kind of lunged, so it was a bad challenge'.
"Two-footed challenges are outlawed and it was a bad challenge.
"We don't need his suspension and our discipline needs to be better."