BARROW AFC manager Pete Wild has issued a robust reaction to get the 'facts' out there in the aftermath of the Bluebirds' 1-0 defeat against Carlisle United last weekend.

Speaking before Paul Simpson's Carlisle United had announced this morning that striker John-Kymani Gordon had received a retrospective three-match ban for 'violent conduct' during the Cumbrian derby, Wild said he wanted set the record straight. 

He said: "I just want to start by tidying a few things up from Saturday because I think the way that Barrow were portrayed on Saturday was not great and we were made to look like the bad guys when in all honesty we have not done anything wrong.

"In terms of the red card incident, I know there are people out there that are clearly saying that I am trying to get this lad suspended.

"At half-time we approached the referee to ask why Gordon had not been sent off. The referee said that they had not seen it but because of the severity of the injury to our player he had noted it down as an unseen incident and it would be sent to the FA for them to look at.

"Not at any point did we send footage to enhance getting this lad sent off, that is how that played out."

Wild also detailed what he made of Simpson's post-match comments regarding the behaviour on his bench and justified his side's reaction to 'the decisions we weren't getting'. He said that he attended a meeting with the head of referees on the Sunday morning after the game.

He said: "Paul [Simpson’s] comments after the game about our bench being very irate, yes, we were very irate. We were very frustrated with the decision-making that was going on from the officials so what you can do at the end of the game is that you can request a call with the head of referees to discuss the major incidents.

"We did that because we felt very aggrieved at what had gone on and over the Saturday night me and Adam [Temple] went away and looked at did we have a case. Sometimes you can get irate on the touchline, and you watch it back and you think you have not a case, but we felt very aggrieved that we had.

"I had half an hour on Sunday morning with the head of referees discussing all the major incidents from the game and we had a raft of apologies from the head of referees about the decision that the referee has come to.

"We felt that we were in the right to be very irate on the touchline because of the decisions we weren’t getting.

"Just to be clear I am not really fussed about whether the lad gets banned or not. I don’t gain any advantage from that anymore but what I am really fussed about is that he was not sent off in the 27th minute and they are down to ten men as the referee is five yards away and can’t clearly see that it is violent conduct."

Another comment from the Carlisle United manager that Wild questioned was Simpson's assertions that 'there’s no love lost, I can assure you of that.'

The Bluebirds manager responded to this comment by stating that he congratulated every Carlisle player after the game on their victory and outstanding season. 

He said: "There are a lot of things being brandished about here and I think the other one is that Paul said there was no love lost between the clubs, I think if you look at the end of the game, I walked around every Carlisle player and wished them all the best and in particular three Carlisle players who I think have been outstanding this season, I made a point of going and telling them that.

"I think this sort of siege mentality that Paul is trying to create where, don’t get me wrong I would create the same around the world's against us, everybody hates us.

"The problem with that is that quite a lot of that is factually not correct and the problem you have with that is when people come out and state the facts it does not look great for you."

The Barrow boss continued by asserting that he is not 'out to hunt this lad [John-Kymani Gordon] down' but believed that it was important to tidy up 'what actually went on'.

He said: "I think it is important that we started today’s interview with tidying up what actually went on and the fact that I certainly am not out to hunt this lad down but to get retribution for this lad but at the end of the day violent conduct is violent conduct.

"When the game is going on we both want to win, we are both competitive people, we are both competitive teams and it was such a tight game of football but things that were said after the game were just out of order and had no context and it is hard for managers at 5 o’clock to try and give a balanced opinion because emotions are high.

"I think it is important that the facts are out there and that we tidy things up and there is no smoke without fire."