Lincoln boss Michael Skubala felt Joe Gardner was unlucky to be sent off on debut during the 1-1 draw with Cambridge.
The Nottingham Forest loanee was on the pitch only four minutes when he was shown red for a challenge on James Brophy.
And Skubala believes the reaction from the U’s bench contributed to the red card.
He said: “The sending off of the young kid at the end, I think their bench got him sent off if I’m honest.
“There’s hardly anything in it. I’ve seen a lot worse tackles in the game than that.
“The poor kid’s come on for his debut, he’s made a tackle, I don’t think he’s even off the ground he’s just late, and their bench is up in arms.
“It’s a yellow card, no doubt about it. If it’s the other side of the pitch it’s a yellow card, but because it’s by the bench he gives a red.”
Skubala was disappointed his side only earned a point against the League One basement boys.
Freddie Draper saw his goal cancelled out by James Gibbons’ deflected strike as the points were shared at Sincil Bank.
It was another case of what could have been for the Imps, who squandered a number of presentable chances once again.
Skubala added: “It was disappointing after the first 30 minutes.
“We scored a good early goal and have a chance to score a second and that would have been game over.
“The first chance they have they score and then it’s a different game because they have something to hold onto.
“It feels like the story of our season where we have chances to score and we don’t. We get sucker punched and then they had something to hang onto.
“We’re trying everything possible to score and it’s just not happening.
“There are a few things we can do better as a team for the goal. It’s a soft goal.”
The U’s have enjoyed an upturn in results after losing five games on the spin over the festive period.
They have secured six points from their last five games with just one defeat as they bid to seal survival.
Boss Garry Monk said: “I thought we put ourselves right in the game after the first 20 minutes.
“I thought we were brave to control the game in the second half, but maybe we lacked that little bit of threat to really push on to get that winner.
“Jesus Christ we worked our socks off. We were fighting and scrapping. We know it needs to be three points, but who knows what that point will mean?
“Hopefully it’s a point gained for where we end up this season. We’re trying everything. The lads are giving absolutely everything.”
On the key decisions in the game, Monk said: “There’s two [penalty shouts]. One on Cousins and one on Stokesy, they’re blatant penalties. We need those things to go for us.
“You’re relying on the official to do their job. It’s two clear penalties. Those are the things we need to go for us and they just seem not to for whatever reason.”
