Paul Tisdale: Exeter City boss praises referee for sending off own player

England Under-17 international Kane Wilson was making his Football League debut

Exeter City boss Paul Tisdale has praised a referee for sending off one of his own players.

Teenage debutant Kane Wilson was given a second yellow card in stoppage time by referee Anthony Backhouse for kicking the ball away in their 1-1 draw with Mansfield Town in League Two.

"It's nice to stand here and say he got sent off for the right thing," he said.

"Every single week I go on to fourth officials and referees to book people for kicking the ball away."

Wilson, 17, is on loan at City from Premier League side West Bromwich Albion and was booked for what Tisdale described as a "dubious" foul in the first half.

But Tisdale, the longest-serving manager in the English Football League, says referees must get tougher on players wasting time.

"It took until the 80th minute for the referee to book one of their players for doing it, it had been going on for about an hour, so it was a yellow card and a lesson learned.

"What I'd ask referees to do is do it all the time, if it's the first minute or the last minute, do it.

"When players stand in front of the ball book them, and Kane learnt his lesson today.

"The ball should be in play, it should be moving and the referees have got to be stronger, so well done the referee for giving a yellow card.

"I'm really sorry for Kane that he's already been yellow-carded, he's got to learn from that, but would referees please do that in the first minute as well as the last minute."