Gary Setchell admitted what he labelled a 'joke' decision to send off Ross Watson had put a dampener on King's Lynn Town's FA Cup victory on Saturday.

First-half goals from Jason Turner, Steve Spriggs and Danny Beaumont helped the Linnets cruise into the first qualifying round with a comfortable 3-1 victory at Wellingborough Town.

However, Setchell was furious that defender Watson joined Daryl Lawman in receiving his marching orders for his role in a melee following the Wellingborough player's reckless tackle on Turner.

Setchell said: 'I was very disappointed with the sending-off. I think the ref (Geoffrey Russell) got it totally wrong. Their lad could have had three red cards on the day.

'He did one (tackle) on Ross which I thought was a red one, one on Spriggsy which is a yellow if not definitely a red, and one on Jason which could have ended up in court. It's an absolute joke. The ref left him on the pitch and Ross only went over to calm it down because Turns flew up and he only pushed the lad away.

'The ref deemed he pushed him in the face which I could clearly see wasn't the case as I was only four yards away.

'I spoke to the referee and he said he clearly saw Ross swing a punch which is absolute nonsense.'

In-form Lynn – who have won both of their games in the Evo-Stik Division One South – never looked like losing at the weekend as they continued their fine start to the campaign.

The Linnets could have been at least six or seven nil up before the Doughboys pulled a goal back through Craig Lawman, much to the annoyance of Setchell.

The Lynn boss said: 'It was comfortable because we put the game to bed after 35 minutes but I was seething with the goal we conceded.

'It was unbelievably sloppy. The standards we have set ourselves over the last two games and the last few weeks of pre-season means it's not acceptable.

'There were four errors in one goal and it sort of upset me a little bit before half-time.

'I let the lads know that it wasn't acceptable as we've defended well for the last couple of weeks. Against opposition we will be playing against in the next few games, if we defend like that, it will hurt us.

'Everyone started well, we're playing very well at the minute but the red card marred the day a little bit for us.'

Lynn will play fellow Step Four outfit Daventry Town in the next round on September 8 after they won 4-3 at Godmanchester Rovers.

Setchell's side were without a game yesterday afternoon after their home match with Brigg Town was postponed due to the Lincolnshire outfit's FA Cup game – which was abandoned on Saturday due to the weather – being replayed yesterday.

• To read a match report from Saturday's game click on the link on the right-hand side of this page.