ANGRY AFC Ludlow boss Dave Cooper is set to appeal to the Shropshire FA after being sent off during the first half of last Saturday’s stunning 5-2 win at Shifnal Town.

Cooper was dismissed from the dugout by referee Adam Mullins, on the say-so of one of the assistant referees, for what was deemed “foul and abusive language” as table-topping Ludlow raced into an unassailable 4-0 lead against second-placed Shifnal.

And while he admitted he was incensed by another dreadful challenge on four-goal hero Dale Hodge, Cooper insisted that he did not swear at the match official.

The Ludlow chief said: “I will have to wait and see what the report says but if the assistant referee says I swore at him, then I will report him. He will be lying if he reports I swore at him.

“He was getting a lot of abuse from both our supporters and bench but I have plenty of witnesses who will testify that any swearing from me was not in his direction.

“The challenge on Dale was almost an assault and a definite sending-off offence, but the Shifnal defender who committed it didn’t even get booked.

“To be honest the referee’s view may have been blocked but his assistants have a duty of care to help the referee and this one just didn’t do that. He must have seen the incident but didn’t do anything about it.

“We are regularly seeing teams trying to kick our players out of games, as was the case with Kieran Dovey who wasn’t fit enough to play on Saturday after a bad challenge at Wem the previous week.

“Some of the match officials are just not up to the job and it is about time something was done about it.”