THERE will be no appeal from Swindon Town against Louis Thompson’s harsh red card as they went down against Crawley last Saturday.

Thompson had to go after he was adjudged to have brought down Izale McLeod as the last man in Town’s 1-0 defeat in Sussex. However replays and pictures suggest Thompson’s tackle was a good one and the decision of referee James Linington was incorrect.

After the game Town boss Mark Cooper questioned the vantage point of the referee to make the call and why the linesman’s superior view was not consulted.

Ahead of the trip to Gillingham, where Thompson will serve his one-match ban, Cooper said he had little faith in the appeals process to right the perceived injustice.

“I think it (appealing the decision) can become fruitless,” he mused. “Unless it’s absolutely cast-iron certainty, on a freeze frame 100 million per cent that the referee’s made a mistake they’re not gonna turn back on it.

“The most disappointing part of it is how the referee can make a decision from where he is. He’s not even in our half of the pitch when he makes the decision. So whether it’s a penalty or whether it’s not the linesman’s 15 yards away and the referee is nearly 70. I don’t’ see how he can do it.”

The award of a penalty was cruel on Thompson in many ways. Aside from the obvious and immediate impact of McLeod’s penalty and Thompson’s teammates being left a man short, the Town midfielder was also robbed of a goal-saving tackle. Cooper stressed he will not be trying to eradicate the desire of Thompson to make those challenges, even though in this instance it was costly.

“Louis Thompson gets back from the edge of their box to make a tackle. Now I can’t ask him not to do that because that’s pure desire to make sure his team don’t concede a goal or lose a game and he’s desperate for Swindon Town to do well so I’m not gonna take it away from his that desire because that defeats the object.”

Thompson, fitness permitting, will return for Saturday’s fixture with Crewe at the County Ground