Darlington manager Mick Tait was left fuming with the referee after seeing Gary Pearson's late sending off at the weekend.

The midfielder was dismissed for a second bookable offence following an injury time challenge on Carlisle defender Peter Murphy.

However, Tait believes the 26-year-old won the ball cleanly and should never have been given his marching orders by Nottingham official Frazer Stretton.

"I thought it was a ridiculous decision," fumed Tait.

"I couldn't argue with the first booking because it was a pretty tough tackle.

"The ref obviously wanted to clamp his authority on the game straight away which is fair enough and you accept that.

"The second one was a tough tackle but it wasn't a foul because he played the ball."

And the Quakers boss will be hoping video evidence will see the decision to send Pearson off rescinded. "I'm sure when we get the video we will see he did play the ball and shouldn't have been sent off," said Tait.

"There was a lot worse tackles than that with people coming in from behind. The ref even waved a few on so to send Gaz off for that is ridiculous."

Tait, meanwhile, revealed his faith in two-goal hero Barry Conlon hadn't wavered despite his recent goal drought.

The Quakers striker grabbed both goals in Saturday's 2-0 win, ending a run of five games without a goal.

"Barry scored in the first game and hadn't scored since but Bazza is a goalscorer and if he gets chances he will score," said Tait.

"I wasn't too concerned that he hadn't scored.

"He may have been a bit concerned that he hadn't scored but I know if he gets chances he will put the ball in the net."

And Tait wants another solid week on the training ground to bring another win when Doncaster are the visitors to the Reynolds Arena this Saturday.

"We've got to work hard again this week like we did last week and try to get another three points," said Tait

"If we do that then people might start relaxing a bit more around the place."

Read more about the Quakers here.