‘Ridiculous’ – Charlton boss on Akin Famewo caution which sees him miss Plymouth match

Johnnie Jackson has described Akin Famewo’s booking for timewasting on Saturday as “crazy” – with the Charlton Athletic defender now unavailable for the visit of League One leaders Plymouth on Saturday.

Famewo, on a season-long loan from Norwich City, collected his fifth caution of the campaign and has to serve a one-match suspension.

But Jackson was unhappy at referee Trevor Kettle for dishing out the booking.

“It’s ridiculous,” Jackson told the South London Press. “The ref had warned Craig MacGillivray that he needed to speed it up and we got the message on to Craig.

“Ben [Purrington] had the ball for the throw in but put it down for Akin to take, because it depends where it is on the pitch whether the left-sided centre-half takes it or the left wing-back. Akin jogs to the ball, picks it up and then gets booked. It’s just crazy that he is going to miss a game for that.

“I’m going to be without one of my top players. It’s not right. Footballers shouldn’t miss games for things like that.

“Since I’ve been in charge Akin has been excellent. Him, Pearcey and Sean Clare back there were very, very good at the weekend. Now I have to juggle again. That’s the nature of football management. You don’t mind so much if it is a booking for a tackle – that happens with defenders, you get it and you take that on the chin. But that one was tough to take.”