"It quite clearly was not a red card. The lad didn't lash out or anything like that, he is a little nippy midfielder, not a big 6ft-plus centre-back," McCarthy said after the game.
"In fact having seen it on TV it wasn't even a yellow card. I politely asked the referee at the end whether he would look at the incident again and he said he would.
"I feel a bit sorry for him because he asked his assistant's opinion and I believe he was told that my player swung out at the player.
"He certainly hasn't done that, he has twisted and just run into the lad.
"But if a linesman says he saw something that he may not really have seen, the referee has no option but to send him off."