Newark Town manager Luke Parsons felt the referee should have shown a red card in United Counties League defeat at Eastwood

Newark Town manager Luke Parsons has criticised a “disgusting” challenge that put one of his players in hospital with a suspected broken nose.

Ritchie Ingham was floored by an elbow shortly before half-time of the Blues’ 2-2 draw at Eastwood on Saturday.

Home defender Phil Watt was booked but Parsons is convinced it should have been a red card.

“I thought it was a disgusting challenge,” said Parsons.

“It looked bad at the time and, watching it back, it was very poor.

“We ask for protection for player welfare and I felt we didn’t get that.

“I spoke to the referee at half-time and he said he thought he caught him but not intentionally so I said no problem, you’ve explained your point.

“After the game we managed to see the video and our media man showed the referee, not to say you’ve got this wrong, just to show him the full extent of the challenge.

“The fact he said he still didn’t think it was a red card was the most worrying thing because I’ve spoken to about 100 people now and everyone’s said it’s a red.

“I’ve got my refereeing qualifications myself, it’s a red card. Everyone makes mistakes, like we do in games, but for the referee to say I still don’t think that’s a red card is beyond me.”

Newark are awaiting news on Ingham’s injury and how long he will be sidelined.

Parsons, speaking on Monday, said: “He’s had his nose glued and he’s got to wait for the swelling to go down before they know fully if it’s broken.

“If he needs an operation, he could be out for four-to-five weeks. If it’s not broken, it’s probably still going to be three-to-four weeks.

Ingham’s replacement, Ryan Smith, scored twice at the death as Newark battled back for a point against the United Counties Premier Division North high-fliers.

A controversial penalty award for handball saw Eastwood take an 81st-minute lead through Aaron O’Connor, with Blues skipper Alex Hales sin-binned for his protests.

Declan Dunn doubled the advantage seven minutes later but Smith, just back from holiday, rescued a point.

“At 2-0 some teams might fold but that’s not us,” said Parsons. “I thought it was one of our best performances of the season and we deserved a point at least.

“They were top of the table, they’re a quality side, with no real weaknesses.

“We knew we’d have to be at our best to get something out of it and I thought we were.

“Ryan had just come back from a 10-day all-inclusive holiday.

“He only got back in the country the night before, so he was always going to start on the bench. But he’s our top scorer and he’s proven again what a threat he is.

“If he wants to go on another 10-day holiday and score twice when he comes back, he’s free to do that!”

Newark drew 1-1 at AFC Mansfield on Tuesday night, Ryan Rushen equalising in the second half before Hales was sent-off midway through the second half.

They host Premier South side St Neots in the United Counties League Cup preliminary round on Saturday (3pm).