In almost 300 matches as Darlington manager David Hodgson has fallen foul of many a referee, too often sent from the dug-out having been too quick to offer his opinion on the man in black's performance.

Although never at risk himself on Saturday, Hodgson did take the unusual step of attempting to prevent an opposition player from seeing red as Terry Fleming hit the referee with a stream of obscenities that led to his second half dismissal.

Not long after Grimsby's missed penalty, which had infuriated the hosts as Sam Russell escaped with only a booking for conceding the spot-kick, Fleming engaged referee Paul Taylor in a session of one-way verbal bashing that inevitably led to a red card.

Fleming had only been due for a booking after his challenge on Adrian Webster near to the dug-outs, but the Grimsby midfielder, unhappy at receiving the same punishment as Russell, soon took the opportunity to give Taylor a piece of his mind.

Hodgson was stood just yards from the pair and turned to Grimsby boss, Russell Slade, to let him know what Fleming was saying but Hodgson's generous advice went unheeded.

He said: "I must admit I didn't want the red card to happen, even though it was an opposition player.

"I told Russell to pull his player away from the referee because I could see it was going to be red if he carried on the way he was, using foul and abusive language right in the face of the referee.

"And that's coming from a manager that's never out of the stands because of referees.

"But when I turned around from speaking to Russell the red card was in the air. "

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