LINCOLN UNITED boss John Wilkinson leapt to the defence of his son Sam after he turned from hero to villain against Leek.

Having fallen behind to a Tom France strike in the 28th minute, the forward struck in stoppage time to snatch a point for the Whites.

But Wilkinson's joy turned to horror in the Evo-Stik Division One North clash when he was sent off for a clash with a defender just moments later.

He was shown a straight red card for the incident and is now set to serve a three-match ban starting with tomorrow night's derby against Grantham.

But Wilkinson senior insisted the incident was not worth a red card and is annoyed he cannot appeal because the Football Association only accept video evidence.

"He only tapped their lad on the head playfully, but the referee's assistant has seen something that was not there," he said.

"The referee has backed him up and sent Sam off and to be honest you have to ask what is the game coming too if you are getting sent off for incidents like that.

"Obviously we cannot appeal the decision because we have no video evidence so it's something we just have to live with and I find that immensely disappointing.

"But his absence gives somebody an opportunity to come in and try and stake a regular place in the team."